Do we even need to build biodiesel plants?

[JD4ME]

Consumer reports installed this, ran it and said it worked fine. Same mileage same power, interesting huh...........
http://greasecar.com/

[wd9]

FFA's and glycerin will eventually cause problems. They have to be gone to be a commercial product.

[JD4ME]

Agreed though It is positve to see people thinking out there, about stuff like this.

[Vader]

Some disagreement about the feasibility of buring pure veg oil. Turning veg oil into bio-diesel adds processing costs and produces glycerin by product which requires more marketing.

Perhaps we should spend some money and engineer a solution to allow the buring of pure veg oil. It appears that these guys have already gone part way.

Professor Barry Hertz at the University of Saskatchewan says that after only a few hours (20) that the fuel injectors will start clogging up. These greaseoil cars have already driven 10s of thousands of miles burning filtered fry oil.

In Prof Hertz's testing was the veg oil room temperature or was it heated up to 200 deg F.?

If the veg oil vicosity is lowered sufficiently to allow it to pass completely through the injectors and atomize would it still create carbon deposits on the injectors? Can somebody redesign these injectors to optimize their function on veg oil?

It could be that the people spending millions (billions) of dollars on biodiesel plants are throwing their money away.

In any event the real money is in the oilseed crushing, and you have to do that either way. Lets just crush more canola and let somebody else worry about whether to burn it straight or process it into biodiesel.

http://wce.ca/DeliveriesCashMarket.aspx?first=canolaboardcrushma rgin

[cheapskidoo]

Wd9, do you have experience with SVO in your vehicle?. I am in the process of ordering the kit for my 02 Powerstroke and I know guys who have done to other vehicle it with no problems so far. I think the biggest problem with this is that it is new to us and there has been little testing done in Canada. From what I have researched as long as the oil is heated to 180-200F, the oil should burn fine. You can also add a certain amount of kerosene or diesel to the SVO, to thin it out. There are a lot of good forums on this at greasecar.com. Plus the system which greasecar makes purges the fuel system to eliminate any residue SVO. Rudolph Diesel made this engine to run on vegetable oil and the oil companies have taken over. If anyone has any experience with SVO I would appreciate any feedback.

[WRAPper]

WD9 and Vader

Since I know the both of you in the real world I'll ask the question too, is this something one of you could look into through your "connections".

Earlier this winter I found this in the proceedings of an Australian agronomy conference, it is long and I was going to save it for you until I saw the two of you in the next couple months however for the benefit of all that read this they might find it interesting.
JD4ME this might answer a few of your questions.
Hope your winter is going well,
BM


Bio-diesel, farming for the future - Steven Hobbs

Partner- RA, BD & SR Hobbs, RMB 699, KANIVA, Victoria, 3419
e-mail shobbs@wimmera.com.au

Abstract
Producing bio-diesel from crops is not a new concept as the use of bio-deisel from a variety of crops was first demonstrated by Dr Rudolph Diesel in 1900. This paper presents a personal reflection of the on-farm production and use of bio-diesel together with discussion of the so March 15, 2005 ncites into the environmental benefits of its usage.

Introduction

Firstly, I would like to thank the Australian Society of Agronomy for the invitation to speak at this conference. I feel both very honoured and very humbled to be given the opportunity to share with you my thoughts and experiences.

In general conversation, inevitably the question comes up, “So, what do you do?”. When I mention one of my hobbies is to make fuel from vegetable oil, I get one of two reactions. The first is generally a smile, a bit of a laugh and then they say, “so what do you really do”, or I get a blank look and they ask the next question!

I have realised, producing fuel on farm is not a normal thing to do!

At an outward glance, farming and fuel production seem to be totally opposed to each other, but I believe the two are more closely associated than what people realise. It was less than a hundred years ago that a significant portion of crop was grown every year by farmers to run their “organic tractors”….the team of horses! The concept of growing fuel is not new, it is just what we are feeding!

Curiosity generally raises the question, “So how did you become interested in making fuel?”

While I have been writing this presentation, I also have been asking myself that same question, and the honest answer is….frost, frustration and concern. The frost and frustration are closely related to each other, but the concern I was to develop, was a mixture of environmental, sustainability and mechanical issues.

Four consecutive years of significant frost damage to our crops forced me to seek off farm employment. It was while working at a small seeds processing facility that I was able to reflect on the vulnerability and fragile nature of dry land agriculture.

While at work I was exposed to farmers producing significant tonnages of high value crops from irrigation. Their seed would be dried, cleaned, graded, bagged, palleted and stored or containerised. These farmers didn’t know what it was like to experience “below average rainfall” and frost.

At the end of the day, I had no idea how much profit these farmers made, but one thing became clear to me… rain hail or shine the processing had to happen and at a particular cost. It didn’t matter wether yields were down or yields were up, if international prices were depressed or at historical highs. The processing still had to happen for profits to be realised from the produce.It dawned on me that primary producers play an important role… that is to produce the basic product for everyone else to make money out of!

It dawned on me in a very real sense, the potential of value adding to farm produce.

Meanwhile, at work trucks would come and trucks would go, and truckies being truckies would always be on for a bit of a chat. After hearing “horror stories” from a number truckies about something called “Low Sulphur Diesel” and “what has happened in Europe” and that “we are gunna’ loose our fuel rebates”.
I began to wonder. Being a farmer I have a total reliance on diesel engines for my living, so naturally I was intrigued by these stories.

It was one Saturday a couple of years ago, I happened to come inside for dinner (my wife calls it lunch!) and Helen called to me, “quick, come and look at this.” She had the TV on, and a news bulletin was airing a story about a bloke in Sydney making stuff called “bio-diesel” from used fish and chip oil! Well, I couldn’t believe it. Is this fella for real? A diesel fuel substitute made from vege-oil!

I don’t think I saw my family for the next week…I was busy doing internet searches and had my head buried in research reports. If I wasn’t doing that I was on the phone chasing down points of contact. I eventually stumbled on a book called “From the Fryer to the fuel tank”, and boy…did that get me going! I can still remember the first batch I made. I sat there staring at it muttering something about it being a “marvel of nature!”

One thing started to become clear, the more I read, I realised there was an element of truth in the stories I was hearing from the truckies. Low Sulphur Diesel was having a pronounced effect on older style fuel pumps. The sulphur was being removed from diesel fuel to help the environment, but unfortunately the process removed the lubricity from the fuel.

The Europeans were adding bio-diesel to alleviate pollution and counteract lubricity problems and were drafting some serious environmental legislation. The Australian Government was conducting a “Fuel tax inquiry” and are contemplating the abolition of the “Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme” and the “On Road Rebate” for users of diesel and replacing it with a “Energy Credits Rebate”.

Ideas and opinions started to form in my head, to the point where I have a firm belief that “bio-diesel” and bio-energy will become an important industry and will have a major impact on, and will provide a deserving boost to Australian Agriculture.

Crop sources of bio-diesel

I assume that most, if not all, of the delegates here will at least have heard of bio-diesel, if not at least know something about its production. Bio-diesel is a generic name for methyl or ethyl esters made from any tri-glyceride oil molecule. Tri-glyceride oils include all plant oils such as Canola, Mustard, Sunflower, Safflower, Soy, Corn oil, etc. Used cooking oils can also be used as well as fats and tallows. A chemical process called “transesterification” is used to “crack” the glycerol molecule and replace it with an alcohol molecule. A catalyst is used such as Sodium hydroxide (Caustic Soda) and an alcohol such as methanol or ethanol.

Fuel made from vegetable oil has a number of distinct advantages over fossil fuel. Firstly, it is renewable and has positive environmental benefits. Instead of releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere, we are basically cycling carbon. Sunlight and CO2 are two important inputs that a plant needs to grow, and essentially the amount of carbon that is stored by the plant during its growing cycle is the same as what is released during combustion. This fact gives us a distinct production advantage in that photosynthesis occurs naturally, in which the majority of the energy requirements are provided free by the environment. This results in a net energy benefit. Life cycle analysis has shown that for every 1 unit of energy required in the production of bio-diesel, there is at least 2.5 units of energy contained in the fuel.(1)

Secondly, the technology required to extract and process bio-diesel already exists. There are several hundred companies located around the world that produce oil expellers and associated equipment, and there are numerous companies that specialise in processing technology.

Importantly, there is also no need to move away from the existing internal combustion engine technology and infrastructure. Billions of dollars of investment has been spent in the current engine technology and the use of bio-diesel will allow the world the continued use of this infrastructure.
The necessary infrastructure to distribute bio-diesel is already in place and simply uses the existing fossil fuel network. Joshua Tickell, in a recent presentation explained, “there is approximately 15 trillions dollars invested in the current fossil fuel infrastructure. To change to a totally new infrastructure would bankrupt every country in the world.”

The skills and technology to produce oilseed crops also exist. Since the introduction of ****seed, we have seen the phenomenal growth in the oilseed industry with numerous Canola varieties being released…almost one to suit every application of broardacre farming. The dawn of the Genetic enhancement era may also lead to major advancements in breeding, benefits that may not be achievable with conventional techniques.

With a vegetable oil based energy economy, all of a sudden, the whole energy market is de-centralised. Every nation either has the capacity to grow vegetable oil, fats and tallows or access them. The few multi-nationals who have control over exploration, extraction, refining and distribution of the worlds energy loose their power. All of a sudden, it is possible even for the worlds poorest countries to be able to grow and produce their own energy demands and reduce their ever growing national debt. Wealth has a more equitable distribution, and with that comes new opportunities.

Bearing these points in mind, it seems that if we are to produce renewable fuels and in any great quantity, we have at least four alternative feedstock paths.

1) we grow broard acre oil seed crops
2) we utilise used cooking oils and animal fats and tallows
3) we grow oil bearing trees.
4) We develop and investigate other untapped feedstocks


Growing oil seed crops

With regards to oil producing crops, obviously there has been a lot of time and effort spent in developing the oil seed crops we currently grow. Climate warming, salinity, land degregation and fertility issues are now creating new problems that may stand in the way of developing a reliable and continuous feed stock supply. A reliable feed stock supply is the key to any industry, and all it takes is a drought to remind us all of that fact. The more diverse the supply, the more guaranteed the supply.

Looking at the current varieties of broardacre crop options we have, an important consideration is, therefore, what oil crop to grow. Obviously, the higher yielding oilseed crops will be the most economic crops to grow and process, but looking at overseas experience, I would suggest that Government policy, availability of supply, profitability, environmental and social issues are the keys areas to consider.
Other considerations to be aware of may include;

1- Management and technology issues..
Is the crop suited to the environment in which it is being grown?
Is specialised machinery or machinery modifications necessary, and do we need to aquire new skills to grow the crop?
Are there quality issues that can be addressed by management that will influence $ returns to grow the grower?
Is it profitable to grow the crop, and does it fit into the rotation?
Are there disease or pest issues with growing the crop?
What other crops can I grow following the oil crop?
Will there be residue issues?
Are there agronomic benefits or advantages from growing a particular crop?
Are there bio-diversity issues? (ie as exists with pine or blue-gum plantations)

2- Cost
What does it cost to grow the crop?
What fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides are required?
Is there a yield penality for following crops? (ie high water requirements, leaving a dryer sub soil moisture content?)
Is there an associated community or social cost? (ie displacement of people to grow larger areas?)

3- Risk
Is the crop sensitive to adverse weather conditions? ie frost, dry, etc.
Are the risks of growing the crop greater than the potential returns?
Are there potential enviromental risks that may effect future production?
The volitility of markets. Will the crop still be worth something when it comes time to sell it?
Are there agronomic risks? (ie cross pollination issues?)

4- Processing
Does the crop have a high oil yield and is it expensive to extract the oil?
What is the value of the associated by-products, and are there markets for these products?
Is there security of supply to assure the maximum use of processing machiney?
Is it profitable?
Are there EPA issues?

Some example of the diversity of the of oil bearing crops are included in the following table.

EGON KELLER GMBH & Co.,
PRESSING RESULTS COLD PRESSING
The mentioned values are depending on the type and condition of the oil seed.
Sections marked with „*“ are estimated values.



Phone: 49-2191-84100 / Fax: 49-2191-8628 / E-Mail: info@keller-kek.de
Table provided courtesy of EGON KELLER GMBH & CO


****seed is commonly grown in Europe as a non-food crop on set-aside land.
In 1992 under the Common Agriculture Policy, an obligation was introduced to take 15% of the arable land out of food production. It was this legislation that grew the bio-fuel industry in Europe as farmers under the scheme were allowed to produce “non-food” crops and receive income. Between 4 and 7.5 million hectares are set-aside annually for the production of non food crops and the majority of this is ****seed and Sunflower for bio-diesel and oleo-chemicals, and a smaller portion for the production of bio-ethanol from cereals and sugarbeet.
In Europe, bio-diesel produced from set-aside policy accounts for 0.5% of total fuel consumption.(2)

Eventhough the majority of oilseed grown in Europe is ****seed, in Australia I understand there is growing concern with regards to cross pollination issues effecting the quality of the domestic crush for human consumption.

Although Canola is the most common oil crop grown in Australia, it has its drawbacks. Canola, has a low water use efficiency…in other words its ability to maximise yield from available moisture is low. As everyone is aware, the last 6 years we have had extremely variable rainfall, and that combined with late season frost events has resulted in yield losses. I had actually removed Canola from the crop rotation, simply because the risk of crop failure was too high. Speaking to plant breeders at VIDA (Victorian Institute of Dryland Agriculture) I soon began to appreciate the potential benefits of growing and using Mustard seed oil, but at the moment, Canola quality Mustards lines are still in the pipeline.

Another alternative crop is Safflower. It is a summer crop, and once it is established, it doesn’t need substantial rain to produce seed. It has a very robust root system that is able to source its water demands adequately from the sub soil. Unfortunately, there are two main drawbacks, the first is the lack of moisture in the sub soil for next years crop, and secondly, it is hard to crush. Safflower has a lot of husk and lower oil content. Canola is by far easier to crush, but then the renewable fuels industry is competing for market share with the domestic demand for oil.. Essentially, what we need is an oil bearing crop that produces a lot of low grade oil and is cheap to grow. The crop ideally would be drought and disease tolerant and the by-products would give a valuable return to off set production costs and encourage new products. Sounds like a bit of a tall order.

Perhaps not. There is currently a project being ran in the US looking at the potential of using Mustard hybrids to produce a cheap, reliable, inedible oil for bio-diesel production, while then being able to use the press cake as a natural pesticide to reduce the use of chemical pesticides in the environment, (such as methyl bromide).

The three main pesticide compounds (ITC, OZT and SCN) which come from the breakdown of glucosinolates, have been found to be effective on several hundred pests.
Other observations include toxicity to dormant seeds, inhibited seed germination and biomass growth and the pesticide compounds have a half life of 48 hours and break down into soil nutrients. (3)

Perhaps another consideration for an alternative oil seed crop is wild radish. Wild radish can contain up to 48% oil. It is unsuitable for human consumption but would be suitable for bio-diesel. As most farmers know, wild radish has adapted itself to be a very resilient and problematic weed, it possesses a very hardy nature and shows good drought tolerance.(4)

A number of years ago, Dr Dwane Beck, while speaking at a Wimmera Conservation Farming Association seminar (WCFA) expressed a firm belief that Australian farmers should be growing crops that imitate our native species. He referred to these crops as “C15” crops. They needed to be “woody”, deep rooted and annual. Amongst some of the crops he listed, was corn. Interestingly, corn offers a diverse range of energy options. Firstly oil can be extracted, the meal and cobs can be used to feed livestock, fermented to produce ethanol or composted to produce fertiliser.The bio-mass can also be fermented, composted, used in the production of bassage (paper) or used in a biomass power generation plant.

In the development of oil bearing crops, I envisage genetic enhancement may provide the ability to adapt plants or crops for areas currently unsuitable for oilseed production, and may in fact even help reverse soil degregation (such as erosion and salinity) and allow large areas of barren land to be re-vegetated.
I believe the public are concerned with the creation of "frankenstein crops" through the trans-genetic implantation of genes from the different Kingdoms.(ie human, animal, plant, mineral) and also international corporations owning the genetic patents to lifeforms. There are a lot of issues that need to be fully discussed and debated before this technology has the confidence of the community.
Presently, genetic manipulation will soon offer technology such as the “hairpin” technique,( promoted by Dr Tony Pryor (5)) which will enable ‘desirable’ or ‘undesirable’ traits to be switched on or off. This technique requires a cloned gene of the undesired trait to be inserted into the gene sequence backward, which effectively switches the gene off. This method uses the plants own genes to select specific traits and doesn't involve trans-genetic plantation. Perhaps technology such as this may be more acceptable to the public at large.
One day, such technology, may enable scientists to take native Australian species and increase the oil yield, or perhaps adapt conventional oil seed varieties to have better drought , disease and frost tolerance.

Used oils, fats & tallows

Other sources of oil include used cooking oils, resteraunt grease and tallows and fats from slaughter houses to produce bio-diesel. Because of the high Free Fatty Acid content of these oil sources, bio-diesel from this feedstock has a high cloud point.


The cloud point is approximately16 degrees C for 100% pure tallow bio-diesel, and it is interesting to note the cloud point can be altered by blending a varing percentage of fresh vegatable oil with the tallow. Seasonal conditions obviously influence the use of tallow bio-diesel and even in southern Australia, it would be possible to run 100% bio-diesel during the summer months.
Fats and tallows require more intensive processing than virgin oil, to achieve acceptable bio-diesel yields. Single stage base reactions result in low bio-diesel yields, but now most bio-diesel processing plants use a two or three stage reaction process (which is suitable for both virgin and waste vegetable oil). As a result, processing plants have the capacity to change between feedstocks without having to change processing methods.


Other ways to solve the cloud point issues with bio-diesel made from fats and tallows is to blend the bio-diesel with petroleum diesel (eg B20 - 20% bio-diesel, 80% diesel). Alternatively, it would be very simple conversion to fit a dual fuel system that used a heating source (such as engine heat, radiator coolant or in line electric heaters) to pre heat the fuel before combustion.
Used in the correct situation, bio-diesel from fats and tallows would find the appropiate markets and be a very sucessful fuel.


Oil bearing trees

Another potential source of oil could be oil bearing trees. The highest yielding sources of oil commonly grown are Coconut and Palm tree oil. Unfortunately, these trees are suited for the tropics and not the drier inland regions of Australia.
A tree that has some potential to be adapted to inland Australia, is the Jatropha tree. It is especially resistant to drought and can be planted in desert climates. The Jatropha plant is a bush that can live for up to 40 years and can be grown from seeds or cuttings. It quickly establishes itself and will produce seed year round if irrigated. Under irrigation, Jatropha can produce in excess of 1900 litres of oil per hectare each year. The Jatropha tree is native to the Americas, but thanks to the Portuguese has been spread around the world and is common in places such as Brazil, Fiji, Honduras, India, Jamica, Panama, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Mexico and much of South Africa. Jatropha is used to make soap, food, medicine, poison and is rumoured by traditional people to contain a cure for cancer.(6)

The attractive aspect of growing oil from trees is that it could be easily intergrated into a number of Government and environmental initiatives. We are only too aware of the problems associated with the over clearing of land, and it is possible Jatropha could be planted to help reverse the effects of soil erosion. It may even be possible to adapt the bush to be suitable to regions where salinity and waterlogging is a problem.
Being a tree (bush), it is possible that once established into a plantation, an alternative income stream may be derived from the sale of carbon credits. Once the plant has reached the end of its productive life, the trees could be used to make products such as paper and ethanol, or even be used to fire Biomass power stations.

Untapped feedstocks

As you will have noticed in the oilseed table, there are a number of unusual oil sources that exist, that are not being utilised (and are the by product of an established industry, ie g****seed oil) . Another such oil source is rice bran oil.
There is potential to produce bio-diesel from rice bran oil. It has been estimated that 700,000 tonnes of rice bran oil could be extracted from the 20% of world paddy production that is currently processed in two stage mills. This equates to 231 million gallons of bio-diesel a year. If it was possible to extract the oil from the other 2.8 million tonnes that is processed in single stage mills that would make available another 924 million gallons of bio-diesel.(7) This raises the question, is it a matter of growing lots of oil bearing crops or is it simply a matter of identifying wasted feedstocks and using our resources better?

In the book, “From the Fryer to the Fuel tank”, the possibility of growing oil from algae is examined. The US Department of Energy funded a $25 million project to examine strains of algae which consume CO2 and produce oil. At the Roswell site, diatom algae was found to have a tremendous growth rate. The test pond was 1000 square meters and over a twelve month period 7,600 litres of algae oil was produced. In comparison, the same size area when sown with high yielding Canola plants was only capable of producing 190 litres of oil.
The reaserchers concluded that 200,000 hectares of algae ponds would be capable of producing 3.8 billion litres of oil. Oil producing algae can be grown in saline water so there is no competition between algae agriculture and food agriculture.(6)


I have concentrated mainly on bio-diesel, but a lot of opportunity also lies in the production of ethanol from cellulose. Biomass such as agricultural wastes, straw, leaves, grass clippings, sawdust or old newspapers can be used. All of a sudden waste from the timber industry become a valuable source of fuel. Even if the ethanol is not used as a renewable fuel in petrol engines, it can be used in bio-diesel production.
Biomass, can also be used to produce renewable electricty. Babcock & Brown and National Power have recently announced plans to build a Biomass power station in South Australia, and will use plantation waste, sawmill and timber waste and manufacturing residues to fire the 30MW plant.(8)

The bio-fuel industry could have a big impact on rural Australia and agriculture. Diversification of crops, new crops offering drought and disease tolerance and crops that may be able to be grown on non-productive land (such as salt tolerant oil bearing trees). We would see the provision of alternative income streams for farmers, the establishment of energy providers and processing facilities in towns and communities. This in turn would see hundreds of jobs created , new businesses spring up providing service industries and new industries making products from by-products. Our country towns would once again become attractive places to live, reducing the stress on city infrastructure that has been caused by years of urban drift. We would reduce our national deficit and reliance on overseas energy providers, and finally, we may start to treat our environment with the respect it deserves. Our planet provides all our needs. We don’t need a new colony on Mars, we would eventually deplete that planet as well. All we need to do is to learn to look after our own home, and use our resources to their full potential

Diesel engines and low sulphur diesel

Being a primary producer, I rely solely on diesel powered farm machinery and the environment to provide me with my yearly income.
The move to reduce sulphur levels in our diesel fuel is necessary and commendable to at least help reduce the speed and severity of the impact that Global warming is having on Agriculture.

Unfortunately, the most cost effective way for refiners to produce low sulphur diesel is through a process called “hydro treating”. This process removes sulphur from the fuel by treating it with hydrogen, but unfortunately this process also reduces the lubricating components found in diesel fuel.

There are numerous research articles and reports available on the internet that document cases of component failure due to the poor lubricating properties of low sulphur diesel. Documented cases include excessive cam and roller wear in new fuel pumps, complete fuel pump failure, fuel system seal failures, underrun and stalling problems.(9)

In an article from American Sweeper on the problems of low sulphur diesel, “John Deere also sent a bulletin to its engine distributors, in which the company cited the possibility of ‘fuel injection pump wear or internal failures caused by low sulphur fuels (on its) 300 and 400 series with rotary-type fuel injection pumps. Complaints or symptoms include premature rotary fuel injection pump wear or failures, engine speed instability, injector/injection nozzles plugging, hard starting, low power and engine smoke.’ It went on to say that ‘sulphur is an antioxidant, so fuel quality could also degrade faster during storage.’”

The same article also reports that “Bob Scholtz, the director of fuel systems and electronics service engineering for Cummins Engine Company, said he has received ‘reports of rapid, almost instantaneous occurrences of throttle-shaft O-ring leakage.’ Although the only leak point which Cummins confirms is their fuel pump throttle shaft, national trucking companies have reported leaks at other locations on Cummins equipment, as well as other brands of engines. Blaine Johnson, director of maintenance for Ryder Truck Rental, said ‘This is not just a Cummins problem, it is a Buna-N problem. We’ve verified seal failures on Navistar 743 engines, Cat 3208 engines, Mack transfer pumps….in all cases it involved Buna-N seals.’”(10)

In the Stanadyne White paper on diesel fuels, it reports that “problems with increased wear have been encountered in both countries (Sweden and Canada). Wholesale introduction of the low sulphur fuel in Sweden had disastrous effects on diesel engine operation and resulted in a crisis situation for Swedish refiners and a European rotary fuel pump manufacturer. Swedish refiners are now using additives to prevent excess wear in fuel injection systems and their problems are apparently under control. Certain major Canadian refining companies are adding lubricants before delivering fuels to the customer.”(11)

Fuel injection manufacturers have adopted the use of the High Frequency Reciprocating Rig (HFRR) to test the lubricating properties of diesel and have recommended that all diesel fuel meet a minimum limit of 460 micron maximum Wear Scar Diameter (WSD). For the HFRR test, a lower scar measurement indicates better lubricity in the fuel.

Stanadyne Automotive Corporation, one of America’s largest fuel injection manufacturers, has been testing Bio-diesel at varying concentrations as a fuel additive in both Number 1 diesel (kerosene) and Number 2 diesel (fuel manufactured to meet the 500ppm maximum sulphur content).

Their test results showed that for Number 1 diesel (kerosene) the addition of 2% bio-diesel reduced the HFRR wear scar diameter to 355 microns while the addition of 1% bio-diesel to Number 2 diesel, reduced the wear scar diameter to 321 microns.

Based on the HFRR tests conducted by Stanadyne, they issued the following statement.
“…we have tested bio-diesel at Stanadyne and results indicate that the inclusion of 2% bio-diesel into any convention diesel fuel will be sufficient to address the lubricity concerns that we have with these existing diesel fuels. From our standpoint, inclusion of bio-diesel is desirable for two reasons. First it would eliminate the inherent variability associated with the use of other additives and wether sufficient additive was used to make the fuel fully lubricious. Second, we consider bio-diesel a fuel or a fuel component-not an additive…Thus if more bio-diesel is added than required to increase lubricity, there will not be the adverse consequences that might be seen if other lubricity additives are dosed at too high a rate.”
As we move from low sulphur diesel to ultra low sulphur diesel (which has a maximum sulphur content of 15ppm), the quality of diesel fuel will worsen, and all that will be necessary to counteract the associated problems is to elevate the level of bio-diesel.(12)

A recent research project funded by the Saskatchewan Canola development Corporation, to evaluate the efficiency of commercial and vegetable based lubricity additives found that Canola Methyl Esters (CME) and a Canola Oil Derivative (COD) preformed the best in these lubricity tests. The CME’s were effective at treatment rates as low as 0.1% (1000ppm) and were shown to be very cost effective.

The project concluded that, “The application of Canola based lubricity additives in both unadditized and commercial low sulphur diesel fuels has been shown effective in reducing engine wear by as much as one-half, thereby potentially doubling diesel engine life. Fuel economy gains of up to 13% have also been recorded… The engine wear reductions and fuel economy improvements appear to be directly related to diesel fuel lubricity.
Based on these encouraging research results, it is concluded that the Canola lubricity additives could extend diesel engine life and fuel economy when applied in hydro treated, low sulphur diesel fuels. It would seem prudent for refiners to more thoroughly investigate, and seriously consider the production and introduction of these effective Canola based lubricity additives to their future mid-distillate fuels.”(13)

Bio-diesel and the environment

There is no argument against the potential environmental benefits for the adoption of the use of bio-diesel rich fuel blends.

Extensive tests have demonstrated that the use of a B20 blend (20%bio-diesel, 80% diesel) can reduce unburned hydrocarbons by 14%, decrease carbon monoxide by 9%, reduce particulate matter by 8%, decrease sulphates by 20%,and decrease PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) emissions by between 13% to 50% .

At a 20% blend, there is an increase of Nitrous Oxide by 1% (a noxious greenhouse gas).
Research in a paper entitled, “Fueling diesel engines with blends of methyl ester soybean oil and diesel fuel”, concluded that “Fueling with bio-diesel/diesel fuel blends effectively reduced particulate matter, unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide while increasing oxides of nitrogen emissions. The optimum blend of bio-diesel and diesel fuel, based on the trade-off of PM decrease and NOx increase was a 20/80 bio-diesel/diesel fuel blend.

Increased NOx emissions can be reduced by retarding engine timing while subsequently maintaining emission reductions associated with fueling a diesel engine with a 20/80 bio-diesel/diesel fuel blend. The retarded timing lengthened the ignition delay time. This reduced the peak pressure and temperature that enhanced the formation of NOx emissions.” With the introduction of low sulphur fuel the possibility exists to also use a catalytic converter in conjunction with retarded timing to reduce NOx emissions.(14)

Another benefit of using bio-diesel is its positive energy balance ratio. “An energy balance ratio is a comparison of the energy stored in a fuel to the energy required to grow, process and distribute that fuel. The energy balance ratio of bio-diesel is at least 2.5 to 1. For every one unit of energy put into the fertiliser, pesticides, fuel, feedstock, extraction, refining, processing and transporting of bio-diesel, there are at least 2.5 units of energy contained in the bio-diesel. Bio-diesel has a positive energy balance ratio because it is an efficient carrier of solar energy.”(6)

Bio-diesel also degrades rapidly in the environment and is non-toxic. The LD 50 test (lethal dose) is greater than 17.4 g/kg body weight. In comparison, table salt is nearly 10 times more toxic.(15)

Bio-diesel degrades at the same rate as sugar. Within 28 days, pure bio-diesel degrades 85 to 88 percent in water. Blending bio-diesel with diesel also accelerates its biodegradability. A blend of 20% bio-diesel and 80 % diesel degrades twice as fast as diesel alone. It is the low toxicity, degradability and safety of bio-diesel that make it a safe fuel to use in environmentally sensitive areas. There have been reports of companies actually using bio-diesel to breakdown and degrade oil spills.

Bio-diesel is also extremely safe to store. It has a flash point of over 300 degrees Fahrenheit whereas petro diesel has a flash point of around 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
Storage and handling requirements are virtually the same as for diesel storage, except that copper, brass, lead, tin and zinc storage containers should be avoided

The best part of all this, is that bio-diesel can be used in any diesel engine at any ratio, with little or no engine modification necessary. However, as with all good things, bio-diesel has a downside. Bio-diesel has solvent like properties which may release accumulated deposits on fuel tank walls and fuel pipes. Initially there may be some inconvience as fuel filters become clogged. Once the deposits have been removed, there will be no further problems.

Bio-diesel at high concentrations over a period of time may also soften natural and synthetic rubber seals and hoses, and it is advisable to eventually replace these components with “viton” or similar parts

Bio-diesel on the farm

The by-products from producing bio-diesel on farm are glycerol, fatty acid soaps and wash water.

Glycerol has a number of possible uses. As it is in its crude form, I use the glycerol as a hand cleaner (watered down) and as a heavy duty detergent /degreaser. It is one of the few products that has good activity on sump oil, and is extremely effective for washing the shearing shed floor.

A paper that was presented at the 10th International ****seed Congress at Canberra in 1999, entitled “Glycerol as a by-product of biodiesel production in Diets for ruminants”, explored the possibility of using glycerol in feed diets for sheep and cows. “The results of these studies suggest that the glucose precursor, glycerol, is an excellent feed constituent, even when included in an impure form as derived from bio-diesel production. Glycerol may serve as an ingredient both of pelleted concentrates or of total mixed rations. In pelleted concentrates, the contribution to the hygienic quality of the feedstuffs might be of special interest. Economic assessment will be decisive of a wider use of glycerol as a dietary ingredient for ruminants.”(16)
If the glycerol can be purified, it opens up markets for moisturisers, soaps, cosmetics, medicines and other glycerine products.
The glycerine can even be fermented and ethanol produced, which then can be used to make even more bio-diesel!

The fatty acid soaps that are washed out of the bio-diesel, I suspect, can be separated from the wash water and used as a high quality surfactant or spreading agent.

In the production of my bio-diesel, I prefer to use Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) as my alkaline reactant, because I have a hunch that I could also use the washing water as a foliar fertiliser. I have sent water samples to be analysised and test results have come back and indicate that there is nothing that would prevent me from using the wash water for that purpose. I was hoping to conduct on farm test strips to determine crop responses from the wash water, but as you are well aware, last year was not a good year to evaluate anything in the field (except a response to water!).

I have my own oil expeller set up at the farm, and a by product of the crushing operation is press cake or meal. This is a high protein feed supplement and can be fed to all animals as part of their feed ration. Because I use a “cold press” to extract the oil, there is excess oil which is left in the meal. Dad and I discovered when mixing oats and legumes together for dry feed rations, a bag of Canola meal in the feed mix was enough to ‘coat the oats’ and prevent the oat dust from covering the operator in itchy dust.


Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) systems

For diesel engines, there are two main fuel alternatives to diesel. The first approach is to modify the fuel to run in the vehicle (which is bio-diesel) and the second approach is to modify the fuel delivery system to use Straight Vegetable Oil. (SVO).
With a SVO system it is necessary to reduce the viscosity of the vegetable oil by heating the vegetable oil.

Generally the main components of a SVO system are
1- A second fuel tank
2- A fuel solenoid valve to switch between tank 1(diesel/bio-diesel) and tank 2(vegetable oil)
3- A method for heating the oil

There are a number of SVO system available worldwide, that have been in use for a number of years. The idea of using heated vegetable oil as an alternative fuel is not a new one and has been used successfully in Europe for a number of years. In Germany, there are actually small groups of farmers (2-4) who grow ****seed, crush the oil themselves with their own oil expeller, feed the meal to their own livestock, and then use the oil in their farm machinery.

It was at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, that Dr Rudolph Diesel showed his diesel engine, an engine that was capable of running on a variety of fuels including peanut oil. Later on, Dr Diesel went on to say, “the diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries that use it.” Rudolph also believed that it was possible vegetable oil as a fuel would be as important as petroleum and coal tar products.(6)

In his book, “From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank”, Joshua Tickell outlines the operation of a SVO kit, what parts are necessary, and how to install a kit in a car. That particular conversion uses radiator fluid for heating the vegetable oil.

I became interested in fitting a SVO (dual fuel) system in my Ute, primarily because I believe there appropriate applications for both systems. Bio-diesel has the convience that you use it just the same as diesel. SVO however, requires a little more effort. To successfully use vegetable oil as a fuel, you first need a warm up stage and then also a shut down stage. To use a SVO system, you start your engine on diesel, and once the engine has reached operation temperature, and the oil is hot, you change from diesel to vegetable oil. You then continue on vegetable until you are 10 minutes or so from your destination and then switch back to diesel to allow the lines to clear. Shutting down to late, will leave more vegetable oil in the fuel system, which may make it harder to start the engine once it has cooled. It is simply a matter of heating the glow plugs longer, or cracking the bleed valve on the fuel filter assembly and hand pumping some diesel through.

Instead of using the radiator fluid for heating the oil, I preferred a simpler system that uses an in-line electric heater. By using an in line heater, you keep a regulated temperature and don’t run the risk of contaminating your fuel system with radiator fluid. It is also a lot simpler and quicker to install an electrically heated conversion. The down side of an in-line electrically heated system, is that you are limited to using oil that is liquid at room temperature. You are unable to use solid oil, tallows or fats as a fuel.

There is a lot of debate about the long term effects of SVO on diesel engines. Research has shown poor engine performance, coking, engine wear and engine failure, while other research has shown that properly heated oil is quite suitable as an alternative fuel. Internationally, there are a large number of people using SVO systems quite successfully.

A research project, Advanced Combustion Research for Energy from Vegetable Oils (ACREVO) was conducted by a consortium of eight European research Institutes and Universities. The objective was to look at the burning characteristics of vegetable oil droplets under high pressure and high temperature conditions, and to try and address problems such as poor atomisation, coking and to understand the mechanics of deposit formation associated with vegetable oil combustion.

The paper reads, “the flames have been studied with particular regard to stable gasses (CO, CO2, NOx, 02 and hydro carbons), temperature, soot formation and burnout at different ****seed oil preheating temperature. All the data have been compared with those obtained from a classic diesel oil under the same burning…The overall combustion performance of the ****seed oil are very satisfactory in comparison with the diesel fuel while the ****seed produces almost 40% less soot than diesel fuel…It has been established that an addition of 9% ethyl alcohol (95%) bring a great benefit regarding the pre-heating oil temperature. In fact, the presence of alcohol allows a reduction in the inlet oil temperature from 150 degrees C, to 80 degrees C. Moreover, the combustion of the emulsion produces less soot and at the exhaust, the amount is almost one half less than that produced by the ****seed oil.”(17)

Recently, I have become a stockist of the ‘G3” SVO kit. This kit is the result of a thesis by Edward Beggs BES, examining “Renewable oil fuels and diesel engines as components of a sustainable system design”.(18) The heart of the SVO kit is a self-regulating, in line, electric heater. This in-line heater heats to and maintains a constant 70 degrees C, which is very close to the recommendations of the ACREVO report. To date I have travelled a few thousand kilometres and have had no instances of poor performance. I am quite confident in the suitability of both bio-diesel and SVO as legitimate diesel fuel alternatives.


In conclusion

I own a Nissan Navara Ute, which has been my guinea pig and I have travelled nearly 15,000 kms on a combination of bio-diesel/diesel and straight vegetable oil. At the risk of sounding biased, the Ute is running better than it ever has. It had 220,000kms on the clock when I bought it, and it was your average rattly SD25. I have had comments on how quiet it runs, with people being surprised at the lack of smoke, especially when you rev the motor up. There is little soot around the tail pipe and I have noticed it starts easier. I can even get an extra 10km/h top speed out of the old girl! Numerous research reports document the very things I have observed, and also there is a lot of information about the high lubricity properties of BD.

One of my concerns is related to the impact of LSD (Low Sulphur Diesel) and ULSD (Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel) on older diesel engines. The new electronic diesel engines will run fine on the new low sulphur fuels. In removing the sulphur from diesel, the lubricity of diesel is greatly reduced. There are numerous reports from Europe and America which document fuel pump failure being the number one issue with LSD and ULSD. However, studies have shown that the addition of as little as 0.4% BD in LSD will restore the lubricity of the fuel to the equivalent of diesel containing 3300ppm sulphur. In a study conducted by the University of Saskatchewan, the addition of 5% BD to LSD under winter conditions, was demonstrated to reduce engine wear by up to 42% while fuel economy was increased up to a staggering 27%!

On the farm, bio-diesel is used in everything from the main tractor through to the header. Due to the quantity of fuel I would need to manufacture to supply the farm needs, we currently use a 4% bio-diesel blend in all diesel vehicles. At this level, I am confident that we will not experience fuel system failure as reported elsewhere.

Interestingly enough, the 2002 harvest was the first time a bio-diesel blend had been used in our header and I was surprised at the noticeable response. Since we have owned the header, the maximum engine revs has always been around 2580 to 2600 engine revs. After 100 hours on the 4% blend, I noticed the engine was achieving up to 2700 rpm maximum engine revs.

Another interesting observation has been my Dad. My Dad is fairly conservative and is fairly cautious about what goes in the fuel tank. Well, you can imagine my surprise to learn one day, that he had in fact been dosing up HIS CAR with a bit, plus all the other small petrol engines on the farm, including the old four stroke Yamaha Ag bike. The motor bike would often foul the spark plug, and be quite sluggish and hard to start. Since the addition of bio-diesel, the motorbike nearly starts first time every time, and goes like the ‘clappers’.

Bio-diesel is acclaimed for its lubricity benefits in diesel fuel, and now I suspect that bio-diesel can be used in petrol engines to increase fuel lubricity and enhance engine performance.

The use of BD as a lubricity enhancer will enable me to continue to operate my farm without having to update my existing machinery, and avoid costly repairs. If I had to change over my farming plant to the newer style electronic diesels I would need at least $500,000, and with the existing financial climate, that sort of an investment is not a consideration.
With the addition of BD in our diesel fuel, existing diesel engines will still be able to be used without damage occurring while still being able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Research has documented that the use of B20 (a blend of 20% BD/80% diesel) in diesel engines will reduce greenhouse emissions by between 12% to 16%

This also raises the important question about the impact on agriculture with the proposed changes to the diesel fuel rebate schemes. It is proposed from the 1st July 2003, that the Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme and Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme will cease and will be replaced by the Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme.

What will be the criteria to be eligible for the new Energy Credits Scheme?

Will diesel engines have to meet an emissions standard to be eligible for the scheme?

Will the older style mechanical fuel pump diesels (which power the bulk of agriculture machinery) be able to meet the criteria?

Can we use blends of bio-diesel to reduce emissions, and is there any recognised concession for doing so?

Which then moves into the next potential area of interest. Carbon trading.

Will farmers be eligible to trade energy (carbon) credits?

Research has suggested that for every 1000 litres of diesel consumed through combustion, there is somewhere between 2.4 to 3.2 tonnes of carbon emitted (in a whole life cycle analysis).
Because through the use of renewable fuels we are essentially cycling carbon (the plant absorbs as much carbon during its growing life as what is released at combustion) would farmers who use bio-diesel be eligible for credits for the carbon saved on the portion of diesel not combusted?

This also raises another interesting point. Could a farmer essentially become a provider of carbon credits? Theoretically, if a farmer grew only oilseed bearing crops to be used for fuel production, had tree plantations as carbon sinks and used only renewable fuels, green manure crops and minimal artificial inputs, there could potentially be a sizeable income stream.

The use of BD to help reduce greenhouse emissions may also stall the effects of global warming on our weather patterns which in turn effect food production. Already, we are starting to appreciate and realise how valuable water is, and if there is not going to be much around we need to use it in the most efficient way possible.


I plan to waste nothing and have nothing to waste. I am really excited by the whole concept of on farm production, and in the long term, I believe I am not only helping myself but also being a responsible caretaker of the land and environment. It is not mine to abuse, I simply have the privilege of using it until the next person would like to have a go

I would like to think that in the near future, it would be possible to have medium sized de-centralised oil crushing facilities and bio-diesel processing facilities established in country areas with farmers growing oilseed crops to be used for fuel. I can see a new breed of farmer, not only producing feed grains, but also energy and carbon sinks/credits.

I can see stewardship for the environment is becoming an issue, not because we want it to, but because the focus has for to long been solely on making profits. Fiscal management and efficiencies of scale have been attained at the expense of our environment and our communities. We have lost our focus.

The bio-fuels industry is so more than just getting a supply of “cheap” fuel, it is all about sustainability.

I would like to thank my family. I would like to thank them for their support and understanding.

I would like to thank the many people who have encouraged or helped me along the way. There are too many to thank individually, and I would not like to forget anyone, so I would ask that you accept this as my sincere thanks.

I would like to thank the internet and chat group communities. You have been a great source of information and inspiration.

And finally, I would again like to say thankyou all for the opportunity to share my experiences with you here today.


References

(1) Ahmed I, Decker J & Morris D. How much Energy Does it take to make a gallon of Soydiesel? Institute for local self reliance, January 1994.
(2) Liempd J V, New opportunities for the grains Industry Biodiesel-Ethanol, the European experience, Agriculture Australia 2002 Conference
(3) University of Idaho, Moscow, ID. Industrial mustard crops for Bio-diesel and
Bio-pesticides.
(4) Kondinin Group, Farming Ahead, January 2003, Issue No.133
(5) Pryor T, CSIRO subprogram leader, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
(6) Tickell, Joshua. From the Fryer to the Fuel tank. The complete guide to using Vegetable oil as an alternative fuel.
(7) Anderson K, Moderator bio-fuels chat group, www.journeytoforever.org
(8) BioEnergy Australia newsletter, January 2003. www.users.bigpond.net.au/bioenergyaustralia
(9) Ranger Kidwell-Ross. Engine damage from Low Sulphur Diesel Fuel. Schwarze Industries
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