MicroCglycerin for denitrification

Environmental Operating Solutions Inc. has introduced MicroCgylcerin microcgylcerin as a non-hazardous, environmentally-sustainable alternative to methanol for denitrification apps at municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. The trademarked microcglycerin is derived from crude glycerin, a natural co-product of the nation’s growing biodiesel industry.

As monitoring of the nation’s surface water quality intensifies, wastewater treatment facilities in the cohesive states are growingly anticipated to upgrade their plants for intensified nitrogen removal, eos explained in its product release announcement. In numerous cases, this requires facilities to add an external carbon source as an electron donor. Historically, methanol has been utilized as an option, nonetheless, methanol fluctuates widely in cost, is flammable, has poisonous properties, requires expensive storage and feed strategies, and is derived from non-renewable natural gas. Furthermore, 90 percent of the methanol utilized in the USA is imported.

Biodiesel blend performs as well as ULSD

Those worried about a performance drop-off going from standard diesel fuel to the more environmentally friendly B20 biodiesel blend can ease their minds.

A new Purdue University study shows that there is almost no statistical performance difference in semitrailer trucks using B20, a 20-percent blend of biodiesel, and No. 2 ultra-low sulfur diesel, the current standard.

"In terms of performance, reliability and maintenance costs, it was basically a wash," said John Lumkes, the assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering who led the study. "The only differences are environmental and economic."

The study, which compared two 10-vehicle truck fleets using the ultra-low sulfur fuel and B20, was released in the journal Applied Engineering in Agriculture. Trucks used for comparisons in the yearlong study had the same engines, similar miles already on them at the start and drove nearly the same number of miles over the year.

The only statistical difference related to the B20 was that it lowered the oil viscosity between maintenance intervals in engines slightly more than the ultra-low sulfur diesel. But even so, Lumkes said the oil still had sufficient viscosity so as not to damage engine parts.

"They were still within the range of what is acceptable before you need an oil change," he said.

The study followed each fleet's idle time percentage, average speed, engine load percentage and engine speed. Each pair of trucks had close to the same statistics in each category.

At the end of the study, each fleet of 10 trucks had driven more than 1.5 million miles. Differences in performance based on fuel economy, fuel test results, engine oil analysis, and service and maintenance costs were considered minute. B20 cost about 13 cents more per gallon during that time than the ultra-low sulfur diesel.

Lumkes said his study could ease concern about the effect biodiesel has on engine durability. He said some engine manufacturers are wary about extending warranties to those who use biodiesel because not enough has been known about how the biodiesel affects engine wear.

"This shows that there is no observable difference in performance of engines using biodiesel versus the more common commercial fuel," Lumkes said.

Lumkes added that the quality of the B20 also is an important factor. All the fuel sampled during the study exceeded the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission standards.

The Indiana Soybean Alliance provided funding for the research, and a private company that provided the trucks also provided funding.

SOURCE: PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Market found for portable biodiesel processors

By Nicholas Zeman

While industrial size plants have gotten built without opening—signaling the struggles of the commercial biodiesel industry—there’s a company known as Springboard Biodiesel in Chico, Calif., that’s flourishing. Its business model, based on the sales of portable biodiesel processing units capable of producing only 36,000 gallons per year, is experiencing accelerated growth. “There is market out there for serving the small-scale biodiesel producers that aren’t going to sell the fuel, but process it for their own uses,” said Matt Roberts of Springboard.

Proprietary fluid separation technology marketed as the Induced Coalescent Separator (INCOSEP) can help home brewers dramatically speed up the process of local refining, therefore, increasing production capacity. “This type of equipment has no precedent— that we know of in our industry,” Roberts said.

The portable biodiesel processors are made of 304 stainless steel and all industrial-grade components. It allows customers to make ASTM grade biodiesel very cheaply—for less than $1 per gallon. Ninety-nine percent of its users make biodiesel from recycled vegetable oil, according to Springboard. “We’ve sold a large number of our machines to small businesses, universities, municipalities and co-operatives in the United States,” Roberts said.

“This technology (INCOSEP-Pro) is capable of inducing secondary fluids to ‘coalesce’ out of the raw biodiesel,” Roberts said. “It can rapidly separate glycerol and water from the fuel.”

The BioPro 190 biodiesel processor, Springboard’s flagship product, is capable of producing a 50 gallon batch of ASTM quality biodiesel every 48 hours. “With INCOSEP-Pro installed on the equipment, however, we can reduce that time to 21 hours,” Roberts said. Also, if existing users purchased a BioPro processor before the start of 2007, they can have their machines retrofitted to incorporate Springboard’s new technology.

Springboard also offers a dry wash system for biodiesel processing. The dual resin tower design, the SpringPro 76, helps double the capacity of “any biodiesel processor,” the company stated and can purify 480 gallons per day. “This is a dry wash column that uses resins to clean and polish the biodiesel,” Roberts said. “Water is a commodity that is becoming more and m ore scarce, especially in California.”

Source:www.biodieselmagazine.com

Make your own backyard biodiesel.

This one is a great guide on how to make your own backyard biodiesel.

The video shows us how easy it is to make a small batch that will work in any diesel engine. No special equipment needed -- you can even use an old juice bottle to serve as the "reactor" vessel--and on such a small scale, you can quickly refine your technique and perform further experiments.

Watch and enjoy. But be careful on this guide, no one really commented if these would work on your engine. You should better check the magazine where it is published. I have not tried this myself.

Lubricant additive addresses fuel dilution issues with biodiesel blends

By Ron Kotrba

For those concerned about using a B20 blend in late-model diesels that employ post-injection for controlling emissions, Chevron Oronite Company LLC developed a unique engine oil additive to help combat serious engine wear associated with methyl ester dilution in the engine oil crankcase.

Some OEMs use post-injection in their strategies to “regenerate” or burn off soot accumulated in diesel particulate filters (DPF). Injecting fuel late in the combustion cycle does not combust the fuel but vaporizes it as the fuel is carried downstream through the exhaust to create an exothermic reaction, which burns off the collected soot in the DPF. This periodic soot burn-off is called regeneration. OEMs have a choice to utilize post-injection or fuel injection downstream of the engine, as in the exhaust system directly, but it is more cost-effective to use post-injection because there is no additional hardware needed to perform regeneration.

Fuel dilution has always been an issue with diesels, but never more so than with post-injection. Petrol diesel dilutes engine oil too, but it volatilizes off and eventually is released through the breather system. For biodiesel, however, the story is significantly different.

Biodiesel has a higher and narrower boiling range than petroleum diesel, and its physical properties lead to larger droplet sizes exiting the fuel injectors. This means that, while the petrol portion of the blend vaporizes and follows its destination to the exhaust stream as the piston is at the bottom of the cylinder, the methyl ester fraction—with its higher, narrower boiling range and larger droplet size—remains in liquid form collecting along the exposed surface area of the cylinder wall, and as the piston rises, much of the biodiesel bypasses the rings to enter the crankcase. Once in there, the biodiesel does not volatilize off like mineral diesel does. With the heat of the crankcase, there is concern about oxidation of the oil/biodiesel mix and engine wear resulting from the organic acids.

“In the case of biodiesel, once it gets in the crankcase and as it starts to degrade, it forms organic acids and starts to polymerize,” said Gary Parsons, global OEM and industry liaison manager for Chevron Oronite. “The organic acids can aggressively attack certain metals, particularly lead in the lead bearings. And then as it polymerizes and oxidizes, it can lead to increased deposits in the engine—in particular, deposits on the pistons.”

The engine oil additive Chevron Oronite developed is designed to counter the effect of the acids, so they don’t aggressively attack the metal; and also to prevent oxidation and formation of deposits.

Historically, in the context of acids, the lubricant additive business has largely been focused on formulations that help combat sulfuric acid damage. Before many of the recent sulfur limitations on diesel fuel went into effect, sulfur content in diesel fuel ranged from unlimited to 5,000 ppm to 500 ppm; but now, on road ultra low sulfur diesel only contains 15 ppm sulfur maximum. “Much of the historical effort had been in neutralizing sulfuric acids, and now much of the sulfur issues have gone away,” Parsons said. “But now we’re talking about putting this organic material in the oil, which forms organic acids, so part of what we’ve done is we’ve tailored our formulation to address those organic acids in order to prevent oxidation of the fatty acid methyl ester in the oil. That’s why it’s called for special research and development in that area—because it’s different than what’s been done historically. “

The product, which is commercially available and marketed under the Oronite Lubricating Oil Additive, or OLOA, trademark, has been receiving global attention since its commercial debut last year. “People are starting to see that there’s going to be more biodiesel in the market, and more exposure and potential risk, so we’re seeing more and more interest because of that,” Parsons said. “Until now, the use of biodiesel has largely been driven by economics or people who just want to do good things for the environment—not by mandates.”