One of the advantages about diesel engines is that the fuel can be made from a wide variety of organic compounds, not just crude oil.
In fact, even organic materials that we might call 'waste', such as grain products, the effluence from slaughter houses, etc. can be reformulated into diesel.

Personally, if alternative-sourced diesel fuel works, I would use it and not care where it comes from. Howver, perhaps other people would not and need some convincing by wizened country music stars, as you can see here.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Country singer Willie Nelson introduced BioWillie, his brand of clean-burning fuel made from soybeans, to California on Wednesday.

BioWillie went on sale at an alternative fuel station in San Diego, where the 72-year-old singer drew a crowd as he filled his tour bus from a pump emblazoned with a picture of himself strumming a guitar. "It is the future," Nelson said.

"Through biodiesel, we can reduce dependency on foreign oil and adopt an energy source that's clean, renewable and helps family farmers find new uses for their products."

Actress Daryl Hannah, who drives a biodiesel-powered black Chevrolet El Camino, joined the singer at Pearson Ford Fuel Depot, where drivers can also fill up on propane, ethanol and natural gas.

Biodiesel is the fastest growing alternative fuel in the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy said. U.S. sales of biodiesel tripled last year to 284 million litres but account for less than one per cent of diesel fuel sold, said Jenna Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board, which is hosting a conference on biodiesel in San Diego.

More than 600 filling stations in the United States sell biodiesel to the public.

Nelson first learned about biodiesel three years ago when his wife, Annie, purchased a biodiesel-burning car in Hawaii, where the star has a home. The biodiesel that powered her Volkswagen Jetta was made from grease collected from restaurants. He bought a diesel Mercedes and then began filling his tour buses with biodiesel.

After filling up the singer's bus in Dallas in December 2004, biodiesel supplier Peter Bell persuaded Nelson to go into business and lend his name and image to help the little-known fuel gain wider acceptance. But Bell said he has been surprised to see the singer devoting much of his time to the cause.

"He shows up at a gas station," Bell said, glancing at the crowd surrounding the singer.

"He believes in it 100 per cent."

The BioWillie brand, known as B20 is a blend of 80 per cent petroleum diesel and 20 per cent biodiesel, made from soybean oil, which Nelson stressed was produced by U.S. farmers. Nelson organized Farm Aid charity concerts two decades ago to draw attention to the plight of the U.S. family farm.

In addition to California, BioWillie is now sold in Texas, South Carolina and Georgia and distributed through Oklahoma City-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores. The partnership Nelson formed with Bell and three others, Biodiesel Venture GP, LLC, was acquired in November by Texas-based Earth Biofuels.

I figured old willie would make fuel from hemp before soybeans.

I don't listen to his music, but I'd buy his fuel :)

I figured old willie would make fuel from hemp before soybeans.


Haha that gave me a good chuckle...i'm still laughing like a girl from that. And yes, if I drove a diesel I'd buy it if it was cheaper, actually I'd invest in making my own probably. It was on Trucks! once where they showed the equipment and everything you need to do.

my dad ran this 'bio-diesel' in his Truck (3406E Cat) and it wreaked havoc with the fuel filters, the truck also ran like shit constantly. He switched back and never had a problem.

You have to run a bio-diesel compatible filter. The 3406 is an engine that was designed in the 60s, so its understandable that it wasn't engineered with any clue of the fuels 50 years later. Most modern diesels back to the early 90s will run with no problems.

You have to run a bio-diesel compatible filter. The 3406 is an engine that was designed in the 60s, so its understandable that it wasn't engineered with any clue of the fuels 50 years later. Most modern diesels back to the early 90s will run with no problems.i see, that seem's logical..

the only reason he ran it is because the truck stop that had it didn't say on the pumps, he didn't know untill he asked because his truck ran like crap.

in england where the fuel tax is so high lots of people were found to be running diesels on cooking oil. which was quite a bit cheaper.

makes your car/truck smell like a deep fat fryer apaprently. though this has yet to be confirmed.

Now, I'm not sure about soybean oils, but rapeseed oil and rapeseed oil methyl esters result in increased emissions, NOx if a remember correctly. There was some test done by Scania, I don't remeber the exact figure but only like a 5% blend of RME could be used with diesel if the engine should pass emission demands.There are also issues regarding these fuels and the fuel systems in modern diesels. The use of these fuels can result in that the engine or fuel system is no longer covered under the warranty.

Biodiesel is great for many reasons. #1 Less depedability on foreign oil, #2 Creates new demand for a US raised crop so nobody can talk about surplus soybeans, #3 emissions aren't as bad.

Now come E85 Ethonol. Sweet!

Jason

I helped my little brother's friend convert an old mercedes diesel to veggie oil and it works great! That little high school kid learned a lot about how to do it just by surfing the web an I helped with the wrenching parts. It's amazin what you can find online anymore.

Biodiesel is great for many reasons. #1 Less depedability on foreign oil, #2 Creates new demand for a US raised crop so nobody can talk about surplus soybeans, #3 emissions aren't as bad.

Now come E85 Ethonol. Sweet!

Jason

Actually, biodiesel, just like etanol sucks for many reasons. In many ways they are just pointless, the production of the fuels cost too much money and energy

The emissions aren't that clean either, basically we replace one emission for another.

Biodiesel of poor quality also tend to clog up fuel injectors, filters and similar. Pure, non esterified vegetable oils also tend to form deposits that clogs the injectors, even if the oil otherwise is clean (that's why we doesn't use vegetable oils as motoroil anymore).

The second generation of biofuels can solve some of these problems though.

If it's a diesel, the first fuel choice isn't vegetable oil made from soybeans or something like that, what you want is dimethyl ether or synthetic diesel. Synthetic diesel, together with other synthetic producs such as gasoline, methanol, ethanol, jet fuel and similar can be made using the Fischer-Tropsch process. The raw material used can be coal, natural gas or biomass, though the latter is not in commercial production yet. One possebility being developed is to use the energy rich leftovers from the paper industry as the raw material. But in general the biomass-to-liquid version of the Fischer-Tropsch is more energy effective than the production of biodiesel since it allows the use of the whole plant rather than just the oils. It also aloows the fuel to be designed, essentially we can give the fuel the properties that we want.

Using waste from for example the paper industry is much cheaper than using say wood chips. Coal and stranded natural gas is also cheap.

Does this mean your car will smell like french fries? rofl... I'd buy it if they sold it around here. Leave it to bumfrick south alabama :(.

Yes I would:rolleyes: I don't care if my car smelled like french frys or dog doodoo if it helps the enviorment and gets us away from big oil companys. I wish both of our vehicles ran on biodiesel or I Have looked at plans to convert a car to run to on water.
IT can be done. the more we embrace alternate fuels the sooner we can get away from major oil companies price gouging.:nono: Maybe in the process we could even help the farmers. What about bringing our boys back home that our serving overseas.
:screwy: I hope some people really stop and think after reading this.:screwy:




Rex B.
rbieganek@gmail.com

Yes I would:rolleyes: I don't care if my car smelled like french frys or dog doodoo if it helps the enviorment and gets us away from big oil companys. I wish both of our vehicles ran on biodiesel or I Have looked at plans to convert a car to run to on water.
IT can be done. the more we embrace alternate fuels the sooner we can get away from major oil companies price gouging.:nono: Maybe in the process we could even help the farmers. What about bringing our boys back home that our serving overseas.
:screwy: I hope some people really stop and think after reading this.:screwy:




Rex B.
rbieganek@gmail.com

Biodiesel won't help the environment, you would also be stuck to the large oil/energy companies since their energy are used in both the production and distribution of the biofuel.

It's impossible to get a car to run on water; unless you fit the car with a fusion reactor.

Yes I would:rolleyes: I don't care if my car smelled like french frys or dog doodoo if it helps the enviorment and gets us away from big oil companys. I wish both of our vehicles ran on biodiesel or I Have looked at plans to convert a car to run to on water.
IT can be done. the more we embrace alternate fuels the sooner we can get away from major oil companies price gouging.:nono: Maybe in the process we could even help the farmers. What about bringing our boys back home that our serving overseas.
:screwy: I hope some people really stop and think after reading this.:screwy:




Rex B.
rbieganek@gmail.com
Alright, funny and true, but, its not the oil companies gouging. They only make a penny or two off the oil, but its in such great amount. All kinds of worldwide events and views affect the price of oil, not just the companies.

The trend of going green is now really catching up with a lot of people...fueled by popular celebrities endorsing green alternatives. The only main downside is that it competes with the availability of the food supply.

Anyway, this is the trend going into the future...:)

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