Oct 9, 2008

Cold weather is here: keep your vehicle on line!

It is time, once more, to switch to a lower blend of biodiesel.

For those of us who have been running B99 biodiesel thru the warmer months, now is the time to add some petroleum diesel to our fuel tanks to make sure there are no gelling problems.

Pure biodiesel will gel at colder temperatures; if you are having trouble starting your car in the morning, add some petroleum diesel to your fuel tank and let it mix in there. At the warmest part of the day, start up your car and then let it idle for a while.


SeQuential's recommendations are as follows:

45˚F, start blending with petroleum diesel

By the time temperatures reach 32F, you should be using 50% BIODIESEL and 50% diesel #2.

When temperatures get to 20F, you should be using 20% BIODIESEL and 80% diesel #2.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you please comment on why we don't see any price decrease when stations switch to a 50% bio blend?

I don't mind paying a bit more for b99 as compared to Portland's b5 standard, but for b50 it feels like a bit of a rip.

thanks

Sasha Friedman said...

All biodiesel pumps in Portland are independently owned; the only location SeQuential has price control over is the SeQuential Station in Eugene.

Price will vary from location to location - check out:
http://www.sqbiofuels.com/locations.htm
for a complete list of pumps and contact information.

Sasha

Anonymous said...

Sasha-
Thanks for your reply.

I should have phrased my question differently... If petrol diesel is significantly cheaper (like it is now) then will the wholesale price of B50 be less than for B99?

Does the blending process add significant cost?

I understand you can't control the price at independent stations.

Sasha Friedman said...

The price of B50 should be more or less right in the middle of petroleum diesel and B99 biodiesel.

Blending is a simple procedure - take one fuel truck, fill halfway with B99, then fill it the rest of the way with petroleum diesel!

At the McCall terminal here in Portland, it is even easier than that - turn the dial to 50% biodiesel and 50% petroleum diesel and fill the fuel truck right up.

Sasha