From: Everette (194cbteng@bellsouth.net)
Date: Mon Oct 10 2005 - 09:27:26 PDT
When the snowplows start running in Minneapolis-St. Paul this winter, there
will be something new in their gas tanks: soybeans.
The snowplows -- hulking, 58,000-pound Ford LT 9000 diesel trucks -- will be
burning a blend of regular, petroleum-based diesel and diesel fuel made from
soybean oil.
Yes, soybean oil. Almost any vegetable oil or animal fat, it turns out, can
be transformed into a type of diesel fuel that runs just as well in diesel
engines as conventional diesel and is far more environmentally friendly.
The oil doesn't even have to be new. Biodiesel, as the fuel is called, can
be made from recycled vegetable oil, after it's been used in deep-fat fryers
in fast-food restaurants.
Hennepin County, home to much of the Twin Cities urban area, has been
testing biodiesel in a small number of snowplows for the past two years, in
weather as cold as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Last month, the county
announced that all its diesel equipment -- not just snowplows, but
road-paving equipment, street sweepers and ambulances as well -- will begin
using a blend of diesel fuel that includes 5 percent biodiesel.
The idea of fueling diesel engines with vegetable oil is not new. When
inventor Rudolf Diesel first showed his engine at the 1900 World Exhibition
in Paris, it was running on 100 percent peanut oil.
For the next 100 years, however, diesel fuel was made almost exclusively
from stuff that was pumped out of the ground, not grown on top of it.
Now, thanks in part to the rising price of petroleum products and to soybean
farmers looking for new markets for their crops, biodiesel is poised to hit
the big time.
In Europe, where gas prices are much higher than in the United States and
the roads are filled with diesel-powered sedans from Volkswagen, Peugeot and
Mercedes, biodiesel is already a fact of life. In Germany, 1,500 gas
stations sell biodiesel at the pump. In France, all diesel fuel sold
contains 5 percent biodiesel.
The United States is not far behind. Minnesota has passed a law requiring
that all diesel fuel in the state contain 2 percent biodiesel by 2005.
Similar legislation was introduced in Ohio last September. And provisions in
the energy bill, currently being hotly debated in the Senate, would give a
tax break for biodiesel.
Biodiesel is already in use in more than 350 commercial and government
fleets in the United States, according to the National Biodiesel Board. At
the St. Louis airport, hundreds of vehicles have been using biodiesel for
four years. Aircraft rescue trucks, street sweepers and other diesel
equipment at the airport run on B20, a mix of 80 percent petroleum diesel
fuel and 20 percent biodiesel.
Switching to the new fuel was easy, said Frank Williams, an airport fleet
maintenance technician. "You don't have to change your engines at all to use
biodiesel. We went from petroleum diesel straight to B20, with no
modifications."
Why the growing interest in the fuel? It's cleaner, for one thing. Biodiesel
reduces carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate-matter emissions
between 10 percent and 20 percent compared with conventional diesel. It
essentially eliminates exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates,
which are major components of acid rain. "There's a noticeable reduction in
pollutants from biodiesel," Williams said. "You can tell if a truck is using
biodiesel or not, just from what's coming out of the tailpipe."
Biodiesel is not only healthier, but it also, curiously, smells better.
According to many who've worked with the fuel, biodiesel exhaust smells a
bit like french fries or fresh popcorn -- a vast improvement over the usual
noxious fumes that spew from most diesel engines.
The environmental and health benefits of biodiesel are causing a lot of
people to take a look at it. But biodiesel has something else going for it:
It's slipperier than petroleum diesel. With tighter environmental standards
for diesel engines just over the horizon, that lubricating property is
likely to give the new fuel a boost as well.
In three years, new Environmental Protection Agency regulations will slash
the amount of sulfur permitted in diesel fuel. That's good for the
environment, said Doug Tiffany, a research fellow at the University of
Minnesota who studies biodiesel. However, the low-sulfur fuel doesn't
lubricate as well, so additives will be needed to keep fuel-injection pumps
and other parts working smoothly. "Adding even 1 or 2 percent biodiesel
restores the fuel's lubricating qualities, slowing engine wear and tear," he
said.
Biodiesel backers also cite national self-interest as a reason to use the
new fuel. The United States burns roughly 30 billion gallons of diesel fuel
a year, equivalent to more than a quarter of the country's annual crude-oil
imports. "By using more biodiesel, we are reducing our dependence on foreign
oil and contributing to our own economy, while decreasing pollution," said
Jenna Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board. "It's a
win-win-win situation."
The factor holding back biodiesel so far seems to be price. Several years
ago, a gallon of biodiesel cost two or three times as much as a gallon of
petroleum diesel. With a growing number of companies now making the fuel,
however, its price is rapidly approaching that of regular diesel.
In rural Minnesota, for example, where conventional diesel has been
averaging about $1.45 a gallon, many retailers have begun selling a 1
percent or 2 percent blend of biodiesel at the same cost as regular diesel,
said Sherry Lowe of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association.
And at the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina, where
approximately 300 vehicles run on biodiesel, government purchasing contracts
have brought the price of the fuel down to 90 cents a gallon. That's only a
penny more than what the Marines pay for petroleum diesel, said Harold
Taylor, the base fuels officer.
As more companies begin producing the fuel, its price is likely to continue
falling. A group of soybean farmers in Minnesota recently announced that
they would begin construction soon on a 30 million-gallon biodiesel plant.
Meanwhile, many are happy to pay a premium for biodiesel. The St. Louis
airport pays 8 cents a gallon more for biodiesel than for conventional
diesel, according to Williams, a price it doesn't mind paying because of the
environmental benefits of using the cleaner fuel. "If the price of biodiesel
were to fall to the point where it's the same as or below petroleum diesel,
the market for it will just go crazy," he said.
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