NYT: "A Patchwork of Biofuels"
 

"A Patchwork of Biofuels"

By LAWRENCE ULRICH
Published: July 19, 2013
New York Times

With diesel engines and their ultra-low-sulfur fuel now green enough even to meet California rules, one remaining environmental objection is that the fuel still starts from a barrel of nonrenewable petroleum.
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A possible next step is renewable biodiesel made from feedstocks including soybean oil, animal fats and even recycled fry oil. But some diesel-car manufacturers are wary of a patchwork of state mandates calling for higher concentrations of biodiesel at the pump. Mercedes-Benz dealers, in fact, have stopped selling diesel models in Illinois, which is subsidizing a biodiesel blend that the automaker believes could muck up its engines or emissions systems.

As governments push renewables, several states have mandated varying levels of biodiesel, from B2 (2 percent biodiesel) to as much as B20 (20 percent), which Minnesota has mandated starting in 2015. To spur biodiesel output, Illinois eliminated its 6.25 percent sales tax on fuel with at least 10 percent biodiesel. Given that subsidy for producers, the state projects that half of its diesel fuel is now B11 — too rich for Mercedes, whose models are designed and warranted for no more than B5.

Biodiesel ages and degrades more quickly than gasoline, said William Woebkenberg, fuels policy director for Mercedes-Benz USA. Poor-quality biodiesel, especially if it contaminates engine oil, can damage engines or fuel systems, he said.

A Mercedes spokesman, Christian Bokich, said dealers don’t want to be liable for mechanical damage that might not be covered under warranty.

The company is looking to resolve the issue, perhaps by shortening service intervals so dealers can keep a closer eye on customer’s engines. For now, Illinois consumers can still buy Mercedes diesels in neighboring states including Indiana.

Chevrolet has simply worked around the problem: its Cruze Turbo Diesel is the nation’s only passenger car designed to run on blends of up to B20; G.M.’s heavy-duty diesel pickups can also safely burn B20.

A version of this article appeared in print on July 21, 2013, on page AU5 of the New York edition with the headline: A Patchwork Of Biofuels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/au...ofuels.html?hp

Ahh unintended consequences.
I know all too well what happens when you use non-biodiesel compliant line with anything more than B5.
I used to run Hatz (German) injector return lines on my diesel. A week after I got ahold of B20 for the first time my injector return lines started falling apart.
Lucky for me I still had the roll of weedeater fuel line I had been using before I got the Hatz line. Problem with weedeater fuel line is it gets harder as it ages and it ends up breaking (about 1 to 2 year max life expectancy).

Now I run B20 all the time and would like to try higher concentrations.
I might worry if and only if I filled up with B100 then saw a forecast for a cold snap.

The only reason they cannot use higher concentrations is because they cheap-out on the particulate filter (DPF) burn-off process, choosing to dump fuel into the engine on the exhaust stroke to fuel the DPF instead of plumbing an injector into the DPF itself. Biodiesel doesn't vaporize as well, and ends up in the sump.

Diesel engine manufacturers are not going to improve their systems by themselves, we need a national biodiesel standard. B5 is totally weak.

Ahh more unintended consequences.

Yeah I don't have any of that garbage.
If I wanted to burn diesel fuel just to make heat I would buy a fuel oil fired furnace.

Worth noting that the cooling process of the EGR flow increases the heat rejection into the engine cooling lines instead of the exhaust, and the EGR itself increases the amount of soot to be trapped into the DPF, thus requiring more frequent regen cycles :turtle:

Yes, it is, and diesel fuel is more polluting than biodiesel too, so it may be worth it to figure out how to defeat the EGR/DPF on the new diesels in order to "convert" the vehicle to higher concentrations of biodiesel.

Of course the government and auto makers don't want people to be able to run high levels of SVO or pure biodiesel.
They say they are all in favor of alternative fuels, but that seems to only be true when they are making money off it.

Got that right.

Water+meth injection helps to reduce the glazing from PCV oily vapors in the intake manifold, and from unburnt glycerin in the combustion chambers, while also decreasing NOx emissions. Promoting a more complete combustion process, and requiring a lower amount of Diesel fuel to generate the same power, the particulate matter amount also gets way lower, to nearly zero when the engine is properly tuned.

A minor inconvenience.
The main issue is really particulate matter.
We've all been led to believe particulate filters solve that problem.
Well guess what, they don't.
They actually make it worse, by further reducing the size of the particles, below the size that gets measured.

The net results ?
The particulate matter doesn't merely end up all the way down into your lungs (bigger particulates don't make it in as deep), but ultimately finds its way into your blood.
Ain't that nice ...

Not with today's crop of DPF applications - at least those we've seen in Europe.

Just about all current DPF diesels can't run biodiesel beyond the 5 or 7,5% biodiesel that we have in regular diesel here in Europe.
Even then, there's issues with oil dilution etc. due to biodiesel.

Hägar's had 12% diesel in the oil due to excessive DPF regeneration.


Effectively, the advent of DPFs has killed off a triving German 100% biodiesel production - mostly Rapeseed Methyl Ester in Germany.

That's going to be fun ...

Excess "oil" if left in place, gets into the engine breather, which is linked to the air intake for pollution control.
That means you'd effectively get fuel down the air supply ... in a diesel.

Shutting the engine down in those cases doesn't help.
It just blows itself up unless you tear off the "air" hose / breather connection.

They'll be swapping the oil even more often, and likely run with reduced oil levels - that's what Volvo did.
And that's just with B5 ...

Do they use a different DPF burn-off system ?