Batting .371 for America

So far, we've displaced a total of 110 gallons of petroleum diesel in the Jeep. Feels good. We've also displaced close to 80 gallons of dino fuel in our hot water/heating furnace with various biodiesel and waste-oil blends experiments. The veg experiments in the furnace are far from concluded (there are many people working on this) but about 10-15% straight vegetable oil can be blended with regular home heating fuel (which is usually a dirty form of diesel) without much noticeable issues. There are people working to do cheap adaptations of their furnaces to run 100% veg oil, but it is experimental. 100% biodiesel can run in a furnace with usually only a nozzle and pressure change (assuming you have a modern furnace with an indoor tank)...but often a pump must be replaced with one that has seals resistant to the solvent effects of the BioD.

So how are we doing over-all? Well, we still have the Ford Focus running regular gasoline, and the furnace use is usually about 75 gallons a month averaged over the year. So of the about 175 gallons of total oil fuel products we are using per month, 65 are biofuels of some sort. That's 37%. I consider this a realistic goal for an average oil-intensive New England family such as our. We will be doing better when I switch cars, but it still feels good.

Consider this: over 30% of our oil use in this country is imported from the middle-east...and our money ends up in the hands of people that don't tend to treat us very well as customers or people. I'll go into this and my personal feelings on that region another time. Our family has theoretically cut them out of the picture.

And that is something that makes me feel really, really good. Happy July 4th!

Biodiesel Day (we are in good hands)

Back in May I had the privileged to attend Biodiesel Day at the Greater Hartford Academy of mathematics & Science. At this high school, students had initiated and executed a series of projects to grow their own fuel-stock (algae) and make biodiesel. The scope of their ambition, imagination and accomplishment was staggering. This Biodiesel day was a presentation of their year's work to about 250 of their peers and faculty. Without any teacher input or suggestion, this project had been planned, managed and developed into the basis for real advancement in developing what will eventually become a primary fuel-stock process for the US and probably the world.

Some history: the National Renewable Energy Laboratory had a project to investigate potential renewable fuels and had settled on Algae farming as the fastest growing, least land intense and most economical of producing usable fuel....Algae-oil based biodiesel. The project had reached a point of categorizing the algae species most useful at producing plant oil and running a test pond to determine the productivity. Then the project was ended in the early nineties.

What is amazing is that these high school students, who were interested in renewable fuels, have researched and found this promising yet "lost" path of biofuel research on their own and initiated a program to pick up where the government research left off. There are only a few University level experiments running in this area, almost none of which are in the US. Only this month did a few petro-chemical companies announce their algae research divisions (we will see how many pan out). Algae has been determined as the only way to product enough fuel domestically (there isn't enough land for soybeans) to meet our current demand for liquid fuels. (more here: http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html). When you consider the importance that algae biomass will play in the future, the fact that these students are pioneers in the field is even more impressive.

I was asked to speak and presented a brief overview of current biofuels science, with an aim to put the scope of their work in context to let them realize just how cutting edge their research has been. Gus Kellog of www.greenleafbiofuels.com also spoke more specifically about biodiesel and the roles it could play in our economy and in helping our state. The students presented the summaries of the progress in their work so far, and we also went out to see and smell the Biodiesel Jeep. Afterwards, Jake Mendelssohn, a teacher who shared in overseeing the project, showed me around the student's labs.


These are lucky kids with a chance to work in a school with big budgets, stunning facilities, and amazing teachers. But we are more lucky in that these kids may just be the ones to free this country from foreign oil, save our economy and keep the world in decent shape as you and I become older. Thanks, kids!

L.O.S.T. for a while

As my friend Amrita pointed out: it isn't much of a Blog if you don't update it. Sorry, but the Biofuel Family has been busy. Most importantly, it was a BIG birthday (not telling which) for my wife, so much partying and rejoicing was being planned and enjoyed. The Biodiesel Jeep has also been getting to the beach a lot, and hauling paragliders (www.ctchutes.com) to satisfy my other non-biofuel obsessions. The little man pitched in to help clean the Jeep one hot day...note the sippy cup on the bumper.

In mechanical news, the MIL (check engine) light is still on, and I sussed out the OBD code p1104 with the help of www.lostkjs.com forum...The Liberty Owners Special Team. This is basically Car Geek Heaven, so naturally I spend a LOT of time there learning about all that you could want to know about Libbies, diesels, nifty modifications, and other biodiesel jeepsters! This is just the sort of thing the internet does best; gets experts and enthusiast together and lets them learn from each other. If you own a specialty car, you probably already have found a similar site, The L.O.S.T. site has some really great experts floating through, so I suggest Libby owners tune in there regularly. The deciphered code indicates a very common EGR valve issue (in the exhaust/emissions system) which apparently a common issue with these Libbs and has nothing to do with Biodiesel use. So I was wrong, it was not a fuel-quality issue from when I had to fill it with NY Dino-diesel (as it was in the last time the MIL light popped. Sounded nice, though! The dealer will fix it Monday.

I'm itching to ditch my other petro-burning car. This is the one *I* end up commuting with (marital politics are VERY tricky), and it pains me each fill-up knowing I could be in a biofueled car instead. The little 2002 Ford Focus is very efficient for a production car (30+mpg) but, as you may have guessed, dino fuels just aren't my bag. I've been hunting and visiting several potential old Mercedes and VW's for a SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil fuel) project car. Why not use the Biodiesel or make my own? Well, cost is an issue, but curiosity is the bigger factor. There are expanding studies on SVO use in "tougher" diesel engines..And the data is pretty impressive. Using harvested oils directly would be a more efficient way to use the oil instead of converting it into Biodiesel...But there are many issues. I'll get into that in further posts and links, but in the meanwhile, if you are curious, visit the company with the best current research on SVO use in transportation engines is www.elsbett.com.

Another factor is that I've been collecting and processing large amounts of waste vegetable oil (WVO) for my other experiments with home heating oil (HHO)...So I've got a lot of potential fuel sitting around. HHO is basically dirtier diesel, and in the North East HHO is a significant portion of of the total yearly petroleum use. A home furnace CAN use blends of nice thin Biodiesel&HHO without modification (Ain't Biodiesel grand?), usually a 20% blend (with a few adjustments some can burn higher consetrations of biodiesel though that isn't recommended at this time nor is it commercially available). Our current home hot water and heating furnace burns a 20% blend of Biodiesel right now...ordered and delivered from www.halehillfarms.com. Nice and clean, no extra expense (actually, it is cheaper). But what about getting even cheaper, how about raw products? Several hefty commercial "waste oil" burners can burn substitute oils, including thick engine-oil, transmission fluid, 100% biodiesel and even vegetable oil (www.kagiheat.com). These waste oil furnaces burn very hot and very clean and help "recycle" on the spot; this is what they do with all the oil from your fluid changes at you local mechanics/lube shop. But your home heating furnace can not use 100% waste oil, as the home burners can't take very thick oils ( and there are usually regs against it). But here's something most people won't talk about in the bio-fuels world: Biodiesel is really just thin vegetable oil. From an energy standpoint, they contain just about the same amount. Vegetable oil has more complicated fat chains and is thicker and might have more impurities...But that doesn't matter much in a furnace. You can burn dirt in a furnace. So there are groups burning 10 ,15 and 20% blends of vegetable oil with HHO, including recycled and cleaned waste restaurant oil. We ran an experiment for the last two years of up to 20% vegetable oil (virgin)without any problem. Several restaurants (including www.angelosonmain.com) are contributing oil for further local experiments with used, filtered oil. This used oil is essentially free, so displacing 20% or expensive, dirty dinofuel is not only better for everyone's lungs..its cheap and easy. Good idea? Yep.

But don't rush and try it yet...There is a large network involved in testing these blends in a lot of furnaces across the country. Breaking car is one thing...messing up your house is different. Let us take the risk under controlled conditions with the consultation of burner manufacturers. For now, try commercial grade Biodiesel in your car, and a 20% blend of commercial grade Biodiesel in your furnace. And stay tuned!

Biodiesel Mileage Report: $0.16/mile

Results from my first measured test of mileage on 100% (B100 unblended) commercial grade biodiesel. Since I don’t have a way to accurately measure the biodiesel that I hand pump from the delivered barrels, I had to (argh) re-fill with petro diesel at a station to figure the amount I used.

Vehicle: 2005 CRD Sport, 12,000 miles aftermarket roof-racks (unloaded), hitch rack (fully loaded), two adults, one child and one golden retriever, tons of camping and whitewater gear.

Conditions: 75% non-flat highway, 25% mountains (CT to upstate NY). Highway speeds at 75 mph (2200 rpm) on cruise.

Biodiesel Mileage: 21.8 mpg (+/- 2mpg based on different method/person filling tank)

Cost per mile on Biodiesel at $3.49/gallon: $.16 !!!compare to $.18 per mile in a gas liberty at $3.09/gallon betting similar ”city” mileage

Interesting note: soon after filling with truck-stop petro diesel in on the MA/CT border, the check-engine light went on. This has only happened once before...when I filled up with petro diesel on the NY/CT border. I think that they have crappy diesel in that region.

This data is stand-alone, there is no way for me to compare this biodiesel performance to petro-diesel unless I go an make the same trip again on petro-diesel. However, it DOES let me know that my mileage is reasonable..and my cost per mile on biodiesel IS competitive with other vehicles on non-biodiesel.