Bio Fuels

[LPigo]

Any guidance from those familiar with Bio Diesel. I Have been making my own Bio Diesel for two months and have had great results. I am posting the URL (save space)to an article that smells misleading.



Source:

© 2005 MSNBC Interactive, http://www.msnbc. msn.com/id/9340969 Bio Fuels may be hazardous to your car's health

 

[CumminSense]

It said a lot more about E85 than biodiesel. The points for biodiesel are well-known and widely discussed -- careful with an older vehicle (different rubber in gaskets can dissolve), and change the fuel filter after a couple tanks to remove the gunk from the tank dissolved by the bio and caught in the filter. Luckily bio has good lubricity, so not the issues as with the alcohol in E85.

 

[67guzzler]

I agree w/CumminSense. The article is more geared towards E85 gasoline replacement than biodiesel and as he mentioned, the issues on running biodiesel on older vehicles with petro buildup or older rubber gaskets are well known. Nothing to fear. I think the story is more for someone with a 1992 Ford Escort gasser with 150k miles getting some E85 and not knowing why his / her fuel filter is plugged after 1/2 a tank.



Timely & interesting. The point that people shouldn't mindlessly run alternative fuels without preparing and thinking about it first is a good one.

 

[rweis]

I just had an interesting "chat" with Congressman Adam Putnam from Florida.



I asked him about Biodiesel and his position was that it took more natural gas to process biodiesel and the end result was a zero sum for energy.



He also spoke of Ethanol that it could be made from sugar and that the process was an energy reduction (ie savings)



Ideas?



Bob Weis

 

[67guzzler]

Interesting.



I'd like to see the Congressman's portfolio. I wonder if he has any energy stocks. I'd also like to see any and all campaign donations he's received from energy companies. Any friends in the petro industry?



The truth is that bio can come from organic waste. Waste oil that has already been used for it's initial intended purpose. There are different ways to make biodiesel from waste oil but one of them is transesterification which uses methanol and lye. It doesn't take natural gas. Methanol is a renewable resource.



As for the sources of oil, here is one example from the Griffin Website:



"Griffin Industries collects and recycles billions of pounds of agricultural waste. Meat and poultry by-products, grocery scraps, restaurant grease, and waste from the bakery industry is reclaimed and recycled into usable, everyday products. These by-products are recycled into fats, oils, proteins, alternative fuels, leather goods, organic fertilizers and methyl esters that are synonymous with quality in the petfood, animal feed, industrial/chemical, petroleum, leather and turf industries. "



http://www.griffinind.com/



I'm sure other biodiesel companies have a business model that works similarly.



So it's essentially using one renewable resource to transform another renewable resource into fuel.



I don't know where the good congressman got his facts but whenever I hear someone say something in pure generalities, I run away. It's his "position. " But what are his interests?

 

[DocStressor]

Congressman Putnam has it completely backward. Production of biodiesel requires very little energy input. Maybe just a little heat to warm up the production vat to accelerate the trans-esterification reaction. Ethanol production on the other hand requires distillation and lots of energy. Ethanol as an energy saving biofuel is a myth. The latest energy bill is filled with subsidies for the ag industry that are largely based on misinformation.