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| Green Berets Prefer Biodiesel |
| 2005-09-28 |
| When Erwin Rommel's Panzer tanks ran out of diesel fuel in North Africa in World War II, the German general poured cooking oil into their gas tanks to keep the vehicles fighting. The U.S. military thinks Germany's "Desert Fox" might have been onto something. At bases throughout the United States, soldiers are filling their gas tanks with biodiesel -- diesel fuel made from soybean or other vegetable oil. The Marines are among those leading the charge. At Camp Pendleton, just north of San Diego, for example, the semis that haul the Marines' 70-ton M-1 tanks have been running B20, a mix of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel, for more than two years. So have the buses and trucks that carry the troops and their gear, forklifts, generators -- even a diesel locomotive in the base's switchyard. So far, the military is not running biodiesel in tanks or other equipment that could get sent into battle zones. But at bases in the United States, use of the environmentally friendly fuel is growing rapidly. In 2003, the Marine Corps used 844,000 gallons of B20 biodiesel, says retired Navy Cmdr. Leo Grassilli, a military biodiesel expert. This year, Camp Pendleton and other nearby bases alone expect to use more than a million gallons. "We've been told we're the No. 1 user of biodiesel in the U.S.," says Gary Funk, the fleet manager for Marine Corps vehicles there. The other military services are also turning to biodiesel. The naval station at Everett, Washington, has been running the fuel since 2001. So has Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Biodiesel can be found on at least 40 more Air Force bases, according to the National Biodiesel Board. All told, the military will use more than 6 million gallons of biodiesel this year, according to the Defense Energy Support Center, the government agency that supplies the military with fuel. That's still a drop in the bucket compared to the military's overall fuel needs, however. The Navy and Marine Corps burn through nearly 2 billion gallons of diesel a year, says Grassilli. Biodiesel use in the military is just beginning to take off. Earlier this year, the Department of the Navy ordered all Navy and Marine installations in the United States to begin using biodiesel when possible. Large naval bases such as the one at Norfolk, Virginia, are installing additional fuel tanks specifically for biodiesel. The Navy is even experimenting with brewing its own biodiesel from the used vegetable oil that comes out of its mess halls. One advantage of biodiesel, say military officials, is that it delivers the same performance as petroleum diesel, but is far less damaging to the environment. "There's no loss of power, and we get the same mileage," says Donald Schregardus, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for environmental programs, "and the vehicles are cleaner. You don't get the soot that you get out of regular diesel." |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #12 Actually there is a biodiesel van driving around collecting used fry grease from restaurants and using it more or less straight. If someone was doing more than cooking it and filtering it they were probably trying to mix it with diesel (for cold temp) or preparing it for a higher performance engine than most people would consider practical for diesel. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-09-28 22:48 |
| #11 Wouldn't it make more economical sense to reuse it in the fryers? After a couple of uses, no matter how carefully filtered, cooking oil/grease start to oxidize, ie it becomes rancid. So there is a limited ability to reuse the stuff for cooking, and burning for fuel then becomes the final stage. Assuming it can be done cost-effectively ... and you'll notice that I'm saying nothing about that! ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-28 21:45 |
| #10 Biodiesel can use used cooking oil as well. Just filter out the chunky garbage and toss it into your tank. Wouldn't it make more economical sense to reuse it in the fryers? YES MARTHA, my family saved bacon grease. |
| Posted by: NOLA Geek 2005-09-28 18:48 |
| #9 Actually, rj, it's pretty complicated. I saw a guy on TV making his own biodiesel out of used cooking oil. He had to filter it, dose it with lye, and jump through few a few other hoops before it was usable in a vehicle. His multi thousand dollar do-it-yourself refining rig would not have fit in my garage, and the hours he spent getting "free" fuel were substantial. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2005-09-28 18:33 |
| #8 Biodiesel can use used cooking oil as well. Just filter out the chunky garbage and toss it into your tank. The US could use our fast food diet to race into energy independence if we started taking that fry cooking greese and used it in our vehicles. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-09-28 17:02 |
| #7 First sentence should start: At $2.50-3.50/gallon The $2.50 price is where used oil/grease is competitive while the $3.50 is for virgin soybean oil. Still I am philosophically opposed to burning food in engines (Clean your plate Johnny. There are starving kids in North Korea). I think a better payoff comes from building a large number of standardized nuclear plants and electric vehicles for the majority of drivers. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-09-28 16:50 |
| #6 At $2.50-3.00/gallon (tax included), it looks like biodiesel is competitive. Problem is that supply is limited. DOE: Biodiesel Performance, Costs, and Use Table 3. Projected Production Costs for diesel Fuel by feedstock, 2004-2013 (2002 Dollars per Gallon) Printer Friendly Version Marketing Soybean Yellow Year ........ Oil ........ Grease Petroleum 2005/06 .. 2.49 ..... 1.39 ... 0.78 (someone was optimistic about petrol) This table takes out agricultural subsidies, so the pump price would be lower (see link). But since petrol is now higher, the production and transport costs of grease and soybeans also go up. The CCC payments effectively reduce the variable cost of additional soybean oil and yellow grease biodiesel to $1.10 and 53 cents per gallon, respectively, in fiscal year 2004. Additional units produced in fiscal year 2004, however, become base units in fiscal year 2005 and are eligible only for much smaller, and declining, base production payments. The variable cost of soybean oil and yellow grease biodiesel added in fiscal year 2004 jumps to $2.32 and $1.27 per gallon, respectively, in fiscal year 2005. The transportation bill passed by the Senate on February 12, 2004, includes excise tax credits for biodiesel blending. The legislation allows diesel blenders to claim a credit against the applicable Federal motor fuels excise tax if a batch of diesel fuel contains biodiesel. If the blender uses biodiesel made from virgin oil, such as soybean oil, the credit is $1 (nominal dollars) per gallon of biodiesel. If the blender uses biodiesel made from nonvirgin oil, such as yellow grease, the credit is 50 cents per gallon of biodiesel. The proposed legislation also includes business income tax credits at the same rates for the blending of biodiesel from virgin or nonvirgin oil. The proposed Federal tax credits would expire after 2006. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-09-28 16:41 |
| #5 Walmart doesn't charge $20 for Wesson oil, and I understand that's what we're talking about here. And if the oil was used for cooking, it's effectively free, though it smells like you'r driving behind a MacDonalds. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-09-28 16:23 |
| #4 N gaurd: E85 is a much better way to go (15% gasoline, 85% pure alcohol) on the production front. It's not useful for the military IMAO as they only use diesel. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2005-09-28 16:09 |
| #3 I'd be interested in seeing how its combustion properties stack up against regular diesel as well. It sounds like you're getting 25% more fuel, but if you need to burn more the number is a lot lower. |
| Posted by: Dar 2005-09-28 15:24 |
| #2 Originaly, the first diesel engines were powered by vegtable oil. Conceptualy it is sound, BUT (There's always a but involved) the veggie oil production does not scale well. In the final result, your production costs work out at something like $20-$30 a gallon, if I recall correctly. |
| Posted by: N guard 2005-09-28 14:31 |
| #1 Driving up I-55 I saw fields of a different looking soybean with signs proclaiming it Bio-Diesel for energy independence. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-09-28 14:12 |