Mark and others: No argument from me, more so since you have direct experience with it and I don't. Would be curious if your fuel source was BQ-9000 certified: http://www.bq-9000.org/ Early on the industry experienced all the problems you mentioned, so responded with these standards to assure users they would not have these problems.. If yours was BQ-9000, so much for that plan. In a marine setting, I think algae in the fuel is a big problem no matter the source. My sister's boat had big time problems with it, clogging fuel filters, causing the engine to stall when motoring. I think they eventually had to do as you suggested and dismantled the entire fuel system to get it all flushed out. I think for the foreseeable future, ethanol blended gasoline is here to stay. Since it does represent 10 to 15% of our transportation fuel, imagine what would happen to fuel prices if it was eliminated? Also, watching this whole thing unfold as the influence of the massive transportation industry transformed the ag sector from producing grains used mostly for food and livestock feed into an industrial feedstock has been breathtaking. Cropland values in the midwest have tripled in the past 7 years, creating thousands and thousands of multi-millionaires in the process. At least on paper. If they wipe out ethanol as a transportation fuel, they wipe all that out too. Perhaps we can look forward to Jessica Lange reviving her role as the poor farm wife whose livelihood and heritage is being taken from them by the evil bankers? No, I don't think that will happen, but what does need to happen is that waivers need to be granted for all the marginal fringe users such as the recreational boating and marine industry and all the small engines that are pervasive everywhere. In the big picture, all that combined is not a drop in the bucket compared to what is burned in automobiles and light trucks. Ethanol in gasoline is causing great harm to these small engines and ill will to the industry. If the industry was even half-way smart they would be demanding these waivers themselves.........more so than upping the ante with notions of E15 mandates. On Mar 18, 2014, at 10:31 AM, Mark Gaffney wrote:
I have to share some of my negative experience with biodiesel. I am a construction equipment manager for a large national construction company that also works in Oregon. Running biodiesel is seen as being "Green" in Oregon. Biodiesel is fine ONLY on older engines that do not have high pressure injection systems. These systems require very fine filtration of the fuel running through them. The newer engines (tier 3 and newer) that are designed to run only low sulfur diesel can't handle the tendency of biodiesel to gel in colder temperatures. They also can't handle algae that can grow in the fuel tanks when using biodiesel. I have been plagued with damage to two newer $300,000 excavators due to algae contamination in our fuel systems. I have been fighting this damage for over a year. Despite multiple treatments, the switch back to standard diesel, replacement of all fuel lines and the fuel tank all at a huge expense, the system keeps growing algae. The algae plugs the filters and the engine quits running. Biodiesel is fine for older diesel engines, as they are less filtered and can burn any contaminants, but biodiesel should be avoided at all cost on newer tiered engines. The California Air Resource Board (CARB) suggests biodiesel actually increases NOx levels in exhaust which is counter to the green benefits proponents of biodiesel continue to tout.
Mark Gaffney Montgomery 15 SF Bay Area
-----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+mgaffney=stacywitbeck.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+mgaffney=stacywitbeck.com@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Howard Audsley Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 6:49 AM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: E15 gasoline
BTW, of the two biofuels, biodiesel is considered the red headed step child nobody wants, but is far and away a better fuel. It has nearly 95% the BTU energy as regular diesel and none of the other issues. Some actually consider it to be better, as it has natural lubrication properties that eliminates the need to add sulfur, which contributes to smog and other problems. It too has solvent properties, but in this case, on the good side. One of the first things people have to do when they start burning biodiesel is to change the fuel filters, as solvents in the biodiesel start cleaning the gunk and other things to squeaky clean status.
Not only that, but it is simple and economic to make. You yourself can make it on your kitchen table. Pour a quart or so of used cooking oil into a 2 liter soda bottle, add some lye (drain cleaner) and methanol (fuel additive HEAT from the auto parts store), shake it up and voila! It will separate into biodiesel and glycerin right in front of your eyes. All that is left to do is to separate it, clean it up and you could pour that into your Mercedes and it would run. People have done that for years.
The problem with biodiesel is there is no economic source of fats and oils to be had. The original concept was to use products like soy oil, but there was no surplus of soybeans as there was of corn. In both cases, the pump price for a gallon of gasoline or diesel sets the upper limit of what can be paid for the feedstock precursers (corn or soybeans) that become these biofuels. McDonalds and Wendy's need cooking oil to stay in business and can always pay one increment more in price to obtain it than a bioD plant can. Those that didn't realize that went broke inside of a few months.
Again, the ultimate source of energy for biofuels is the sun. To date, no plant has been identified that can produce fats or oils on an economic scale to make this feasible. The main hope to date has been algae, some of which can produce large amounts of fats, but getting those separated hasn't been easy. Of the plants that are successful and are still running, most are using used cooking oil as their precurser feedstock. It turns out it works just as well downstream of McDonalds as it does before they use it.
If you are interested in supporting biofuels, get behind biodiesel. Almost any plant or animal fat, from used cooking oil to bacon grease can be made into clean burning and valuable bioD. Small plants do not cost that much and are economical to operate. When your feedstock is a true waste product, it is cheap and that concept does work.