Originally Posted By: supton
Well to wheels analysis. I recall coming to similar conclusions, well after reading the analysis that I stumbled across, and ran a TDi for a number of years. Even tried to run B20 when I could. Want to say ethanol would give 1.6 units of energy back for every unit put in--but biodiesel was 3.2 units for every unit put in? something like that. Of course, BD seems to have fallen to the wayside, just like diesels.
A college friend and I did a project on bio-diesel for one of our classes. He had a Ford 7.3 PowerStroke that we ran on bio-diesel recycled and filtered from waste cooking oil. It was a dual tank setup so the vehicle started on regular diesel, switched over to bio when warmed up and then switched back to regular about a mile before shutdown. The truck ran great. He did a lot of research on the amount of energy units in bio-diesel vs. regular diesel fuel, and also how bio-diesel provided more lubricity over regular diesel.
The school also had one of their transit buses converted to waste cooking oil. It smelled like french fries when it drove by, which was pretty funny. Not sure what happened to it since they ended up replacing the whole bus fleet.
Well to wheels analysis. I recall coming to similar conclusions, well after reading the analysis that I stumbled across, and ran a TDi for a number of years. Even tried to run B20 when I could. Want to say ethanol would give 1.6 units of energy back for every unit put in--but biodiesel was 3.2 units for every unit put in? something like that. Of course, BD seems to have fallen to the wayside, just like diesels.
A college friend and I did a project on bio-diesel for one of our classes. He had a Ford 7.3 PowerStroke that we ran on bio-diesel recycled and filtered from waste cooking oil. It was a dual tank setup so the vehicle started on regular diesel, switched over to bio when warmed up and then switched back to regular about a mile before shutdown. The truck ran great. He did a lot of research on the amount of energy units in bio-diesel vs. regular diesel fuel, and also how bio-diesel provided more lubricity over regular diesel.
The school also had one of their transit buses converted to waste cooking oil. It smelled like french fries when it drove by, which was pretty funny. Not sure what happened to it since they ended up replacing the whole bus fleet.