The Forum has been offered an amount of Ethanol racing fuel. It is denatured Ethanol and all fuel excise will have been paid on it, so there is no excise liability if we accept it.

I am talking about a large number of 205 Litre drums of ethanol.
We would also need to take away approx 75 empty drums. I believe that it will be a bulk lot, we can’t take only the Ethanol, we would need to take the empties also.

I am discussing this with moderators to ensure a fair method of distributing the Ethanol to members who would like to use it either in making biodiesel or in spark ignition engines.

The fuel will be located in the Gold Coast area, so this limits the ability of members in areas other than NSW and QLD to participate, although it does not exclude them. We would need to be able to remove the full and empty drums and I am hoping that we can arrange the collection on a particular day, or days.

What I need to know from members, is what amount of Ethanol you would be wanting (drums) and what you plan to use it for.

Members who can assist with the transport and short term storage should also post here as, without transport, we can’t get it.

When we have some responses, the Moderators will discuss allocations of the fuel.

Members needing a supply of clean fuel drums should respond to the other topic I have posted. Expressions of Interest - Fuel drums - Qld

My only issue is that it would be difficult to get it brought to WA, so I may not participate, but then I may, depending on freight costs.

Regards,
Tony

Any ideas if BioDiesel is OK with the new technology, aka VW ‘09 TDI with the passive NOx reduction (no urea injection).

VW I understand is only allowing 5% Bio max, from the pump only. They consider any home made DIY fuel to be experimental, no home brew allowed. Of course how would they know.

For those that don’t know the new NSR (NOx Storage Regenerative) system uses a special NOx Trap that stores NOx during normal lean operations and than with extra heat and Oxygen it regenerates the NOx or cracks it down to basic parts nitrogen and Ox. The engine produces the extra heat and oxygen by after injection of fuel (requiring very precise piezoelectric) injectors.

Before the NOx trap (NSR unit) there is a oxidizing catalytic converter and Particle separator. This regulates the heat, due to the fact the NSR trap is very temp sensitive.

Besides warranty issues with VW any one see a problem with using more than 5% Biodiesel with this system?

Hi guys, I have been lurking around here for a while now…..

Just bought an ‘84 cruiser..HJ60 Turbo.

Will this be ok for vegie conversion? Will 20/80 blend be ok until we can get it done?

Cheers

Pete

I found that by using a spatula to scrape fat down the inside of the 100mic nylon sock, the flow improved significantly. Only a small film of fats is needed to inhibit the flow of oil. Pure oils will go through within a minute or so, but any amount of fats will restrict flow. I can cut down the time to a fraction of before (depending of the total amount of fats though). Originally I was hestitant to scrape the sock but I found it to be very tough and my spatula is made from a length of pvc pipe. Mostly I spatula whenever I walk past. I understand these socks are quite expensive but I was given 3 which I rotate: wash/dry/filter…………………………………….. .

(automatically updated/inserted from The Big Biofuels Blog)

US this year diverted 24.5% of its corn crop into ethanol production and replaced 2.65% of the total US demand for road transportation fuels — assuming that the 2007 figures for fuel use will be around the same as 2006, according to figures from the US Department of Energy which has issued preliminary ethanol production figures for 2007. These show that in 2007 the US produced 6485 m gal ethanol — 49.6% of the world total — and imported 361 m gal. Total consumption was 6846m gal. This displaced 4642 m gal of gasoline, based on preliminary data.

The US used 24.5% of the corn crop (3200m bushels) in the process.

According to the US department of Transportation, American road vehicles consumed 174 930m gal gasoline in 2006. Those numbers are likely to be updated in April 2009 for 2007.

All of this helps to put the current US pro-corn lobby lunacy into perspective. It also shows how little difference incremental planting and incremental improvements in crop yeild will make in the short- to medium-term. The last thing the world needs is the demand for grains to be getting close to the production levels of grains.

This also shows just how massive the demand for fuel is and how pathetically small attempts at growing our way out of oil dependency based on one type of technology are. If the entire corn crop were diverted to make ethanol, it would only replace 10% of demand.

We all need to be a lot smarter about the kinds of things that we use for fuel, things like food waste and municple waste should be examined quickly and thoroughly. We should throw less away without getting the additoinal benefit from it. We should, through taxation if necessary, price gasoline at a level which reflects its true economic value and then we’d have an incentive to make all road vehicles much more efficient. That’s easy for me to say, I’m not standing for office. .

More (from The Big Biofuels Blog)…

(automatically updated/inserted from The Big Biofuels Blog)

A Karl and Helen Rehberg from Florida committed a biodiesel scam in Florida the 1990s and pocketed around $20m from investors, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations. The Rehbergs were sentenced on 22 August.

This is the first case of its kind that I’ve come across.

Hattip to Bizopnews.

More (from The Big Biofuels Blog)…

(automatically updated/inserted from The Big Biofuels Blog)

Enterprise-rent-a-car appoints Dr Richard Sayre as academic biofuel director at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The position was created by the family which owns Enterprise (and also Alamo and National Car rental brands) with a $25m donation to the Danforth Plant Science Center. Nice.

He’ll be studying third generation biofuels… that’s algae to you and me:

“Extracting oil from algae to produce a more sustainable biofuel is one of the most promising and exciting areas of biofuels research today,” said Sayre, formerly a professor in the Department of Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology at The Ohio State University. “Algae have significant potential as a clean, renewable, and economical fuel source. And, because algae are not used as food, they are a biofuel source that does not compete with the food supply.”

I’ve asked Enterprise if it has any details of the average fuel efficiency of its fleet of cars over the past five years and how it has changed over that time. Rental companies with large fleets could have some power in getting car makers to produce vehicles which are more efficient… I’ll be asking other rental firms.

More (from The Big Biofuels Blog)…

(automatically updated/inserted from The Big Biofuels Blog)

If you are interested in the environmental impact of biofuels in the US check this polemic on the Huffington Post. Makes some good points about the end to end efficiency of biofuels in the automotive sector. You can’t comment on it there, so perhaps you’d like to do so here.

More (from The Big Biofuels Blog)…