Bio Fuel

[sunhuntin]

trust me... i see a large number of blind drivers every shift, to the point its scary. hell, i get called "sir", "young man", "lad" etc by tons of em, and thats in a tshirt! (.)(.) <-- not exactly a bcup.

we have two pumps that are on the same stand. one side is 91, the other 95. they each have their own independant keypads, but so many type the amount on the 95 and then grab the 91 and then get shitty when they end up with more than they wanted. same with the prepay signs "what does prepay mean? do i have to pay first?" welllll.... DUH. or else they read the sign, lift it up, type the amount and then standing there pumping nothing, wondering why its "broken".

[Gubb]

im not sure if its next year, but all petrol companies will have to provide a bio alternative eventually. i personally plan to be out of the industry by then... most joe-asswipes cant even tell the difference between 91 and 95, or why that keypad doesnt relate to the pump next door, never mind trying to get their heads around biofuels.

This year. July 1 I think the regulation come into effect.

[Finn]

This year. July 1 I think the regulation come into effect.

Ahhh, but not so fast cookie boy...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/...ectid=10500609

[vifferman]

Ahhh, but not so fast cookie boy...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/...ectid=10500609

That looks strangely like post #29...

[Finn]

That looks strangely like post #29...

Pftttt, that was minutes ago.

[Gubb]

Ahhh, but not so fast cookie boy...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/...ectid=10500609

Cheers for the link, but 'cookie boy'?

[Finn]

Cheers for the link, but 'cookie boy'?

Someone just sent me a Benny Hill clip. Nothing to worry about you sirry iriot.

[borg]

Biofuels Drive Running Out of Gas

This is the article that prompted me to post in this thread earlier today.

[motorbyclist]

Biofuel does emit the same carbon but since it is fist taken from the air by the plants then relesed back into the air by the vehicle; it's carbon neutral (depending on a few other factors to follow)

you ARE correct that the type of plant matters. also, biodiesel IS better than diesel, but i hear it forms a waxy solid at low temperatures.

but biofuel is not carbon neutral when made from plants. the carbon released in deforestation to clear more land to grow the plants, and carbon release in just growing the stuff (fertilizers, processing etc) cancel it all out and then some.

ethanol is a solvent, and will eat most rubbers/plastics in most vehicles, especially the older ones. it burns at a different rate to normal petrol, so spark timing should be altered. it has less energy per kg than normal petrol, but can be run at much higher compression, so only gives more power if your vehicle cannot run petrol.

in the states, to replace their oil imports with home-grown biofuel, they would have to import food instead. food prices are already rising as farmers can get more money from fuel than food. tequila production in mexico is falling for the same reason.

the solar to bioethanol (via plants) to wheel efficiency is something on the order of 0.01%
the solar to electricity (via solar panels) to wheel is about 35% at present
the area of fertile land required by biofuels would therefore be 3500 times the area of infertile land required by solar panels to power electric vehicles.

then of course there's nuclear power...

and recent developments using solar energy to convert CO2 in the atmosphere to CO, which can then be used as a fuel. (use that fuel to make electricity and you've got a claimed 35% efficiency, close to the current solar panel record of 42.8%)

electric vehicles are enjoying further improvements in battery technology to increase range, the motors are near zero maintenance, dead silent and ZERO emissions - and it is cleaner to burn coal to power electric cars than it is to run a car on petrol

so why isn't our government pushing for an electric car fleet instead of trying to fuel our unreasonably old combustion fleet on unsuitable fuels?

I heard that by the end of next year the Ethanol content will be a mandatory minium of 20% (E20) in all petrolium sold in this country.

i believe the figure was biofuel had to be 3.4% of all transport fuels by 2010

most joe-asswipes cant even tell the difference between 91 and 95, or why that keypad doesnt relate to the pump next door, never mind trying to get their heads around biofuels.

+1

i see NZ wood industry is spreadng biofuel propaganda

it's a shame grass gives a higher yield per hectare than wood, and you get regular harvests rather than one every 7 years

[motorbyclist]

electric bike manufacturer in the states

electric sportscar

[bobbydazzler]

you should not put bio fuel in any modern injection engines especially diesels. when i say modern i mean from 2006 onwards. the tolerences of modern fuel injectors are getting smaller all the time, it causes sealing faces and rubber seals to shit themselves. in diesels it will lock up your high pressure pumps at blow your engine, its crap stuff dont touch it, or attleast untill the major bike/car manufacturers design their engines with bio fuel in mind. most petrol companies put biofuel mix into there fuels but it is a relatively small amount which shouldnt hurt. just get the lawyers ready when the make it more than 20% mix

[motorbyclist]

on that note i did hear some report about bioethanol being a serious fire hazard: once a pressurized rubber fuel line/seal splits due to the ethanol dissolving it, the result would be a spray of fuel onto/around the hot engine. under the bonnet of a car this would have an obviously undesirable effect

[idleidolidyll]

you should not put bio fuel in any modern injection engines especially diesels. when i say modern i mean from 2006 onwards. the tolerences of modern fuel injectors are getting smaller all the time, it causes sealing faces and rubber seals to shit themselves. in diesels it will lock up your high pressure pumps at blow your engine, its crap stuff dont touch it, or attleast untill the major bike/car manufacturers design their engines with bio fuel in mind. most petrol companies put biofuel mix into there fuels but it is a relatively small amount which shouldnt hurt. just get the lawyers ready when the make it more than 20% mix

sorry to burst your bubble chicken little but two facts negate that warning: most well made commercial biodiesel (not SVO) is thinner (less viscous) than mineral diesel and injection system manufacturers also sell different injectors for those who make their own biodiesel or who use SVO (straight vege oil).
The germans and many other Euros have been doing this for decades.

the real issue from the start is that biodiesel will clean all the crap out of your fuel tank and block your diesel filters. It is vital to change those filters 3 or 4 times soon after changing to biodiesel to prevent problems in that area. Afterwards, the extra cleaning and lubrication qualities of commercial biodiesel should improve engine longevity.

Commercial biodiesel must meet certain standards but of course home made biodiesel often will never be tested. That doesn't mean it's always a problem. It just means that you should be very careful when making the stuff and don't take shortcuts. An extra insurance policy when using it is to route your fuel lines through the radiator in an internal coil to heat the fuel and reduce its viscosity. You can also buy inline heaters drawing about 10-20 amps that will heat the biodiesel to about 70 degrees just before it goes into the injector (thereby reducing the viscosity).

The upshot is to always use good fuel (and commercial mineral diesel is just as bad sometimes), be aware of the POTENTIAL problems and the means to overcome them and, if making your own fuel, don't take shortcuts (like the SVO systems that 'treat' the oil with mothballs etc).

[idleidolidyll]

i see NZ wood industry is spreadng biofuel propaganda

it's a shame grass gives a higher yield per hectare than wood, and you get regular harvests rather than one every 7 years

I read in New Scientist a while ago that the best plant 'crop' for US bioethanol would be prairie grasses from the Great Plains.
The use of grain crops is highly water and chemical intensive and is pushing up food prices. The solution is different for every continent/region/country due to different ecosystems but for the USA, prairie grass grows with little water, no chemicals and produces 2-3 'crops' a year.
It's ability to be used as fuel is about as good as the crops currently being used and the Great Plains areas are to a large extent, still untapped.

The one issue noted was a repeat of the dust bowl effects of the 1920's and 30's when farmers over-farmed the land and were then hit by droughts. The land turned to dust and blew away. However, with that knowledge in mind and careful management, it should be possible to use bio crops all over the world as long as we seek solutions specific to each ecosystem.

For sure though, we will need to augment this with wind power, waves and sunlight to reduce dependance on oil from mineral AND crop fuels if we are serious about air quality and global climate change.

[bobbydazzler]

i worked for BMW UK upto october 07, there was a technical bulletin on the BMW computer network (PUMA) not long before i left the uk, this is basically a system that allows the employees to be able to contact the technical head office in either GB or AG (germany) if there is a problem they should know about, or if they have a problem they can ask for help from tech department.
it went something like this. dear blah @ technical offfice, customer arrived today asking if he/she could put bio diesel in there car "", blah blah blah.
reply from technical office was something like this. under no circumstances should biofuel be used in any BMW vehicle as we cannot guarenty our parts will be compitable with said fuel. will void warrenty.
it may be them being over cautious but at the end of the day if its not known then best not chance it. if this is the case, it will most likely be the same for most other european major car manufacturers, they all use pretty much the same components made by bosch. i think the car companys are now giving customers an option for guarenteed biofuel compatible vehicles, but this could just be another way of making more money, would i buy a $100,000 car and put biofuel in. no i wouldnt want to take the risk. the following is a link to i presentation put together for the ministry of transport, this also states that compatibilty with all vehicles cannot be guaranteed. http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/...eport-v3.1.pdf