Will the banning of transfats reduce the amount of biodiesel available?
 

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/12/06/no-more-trans-fats-at-new-york-city-restaurants-will-biodiesel/

The article is about NYC, but California just banned it too.

Another example of how feel good legislation can have bad 2nd order effects. Ethanol anyone?

Here's the crux of the article for me: "It's not entirely clear how this change might affect the green car community members who interact the most with restaurant oil: biodiesel homebrewers."
The problem is biodiesel, at least in L.A., is sort of a niche thing that few can keep tabs on. Think moonshining.

I've seen a M-B garage in L.A. with a lot of old diesel 300s out front. You've got to wonder with so many bio-diesel stickers on old Mercedes diesels in town, what this and other little shops are up to. I know Sacramento would like to know...

The sticker is just for bragging rights, for most. (most) People don't continually pay the bio price delta.

Bio-Diesel is big up here. ...Even Safeway grocery stores sell Bio-diesel . . but few are pumping the premium cost stuff. (compared to dino diesel)

So you've been asking people with the sticker on their car if they actually use bio-diesel? I have. They swear by it, regardless of price.

Another way to tell that it's not just about "bragging rites" is the distinct smell a bio-diesel powered car gives off. Hint: burned "freedom" fries.

Will the banning of transfats reduce the amount of ?
 

When was Transfat banned? Which thread caused it:eek: Did he make Z Man mad?

I'll miss him...he was a bit of a troll, but he had some good insights when he wasn't drunk typing:cool:

Just note the people pumping at the dino-diesel pump. ....and their stickers. (ask, and; "I'm mixing...)

Yes, the problem is ***, of trans***. "***" is an obnoxious word. Trans knew better.

how about replacing it with liposuctioned butt fat. a hitherto untapped resource.

I hear that makes your car smell like ***. <--- would be funny if I could write "***" w/o fear of banishment.

Bush hates ***

Tom

Is that MB shop in LA Lovecraft Biofuels? They are the MotorMeister of the veggie conversion world. People come onto our forums with horror stories, and we try to get them sorted out. Much like MM clients coming to the PP forums asking if it's normal to have blue smoke after a year.

They have very slick advertising and they're very convincing up-front. But they're more style than substance.

People with two tank veggie conversions like mine need to fill their diesel tank now and then, because they start & shut down on diesel. Last time I filled up was mid-May.

Plus, some people do blend straight veggie oil or even homebrew biodiesel with a % of diesel. Some even use 15% regular gasoline on 85% canola.

The longer life of the oil is a marketing thing. I have been using 0 trans fat oil in my restaurant for 2 years and we still change the oil every couple of days. The oil is a lot more expensive and some restaurants may try to extend the useful life of the oil by adding anti foaming agents, but the food will suffer.

Some of the instructions said to lower the oil temp in off peak times, and to use a costly filtering system. We use the filtering system, but it has no effect on the life of the oil.

As a side note when we switched to 0 trans fat canola oil, it was cheaper than the hydrogenated oil.

Thanks Jake; I know. I was thinking of guys like you when i wrote: "The sticker is just for bragging rights, for most." ;)

What gets me is so many of the stickers up here read "Biodiesel - No War required" <-- they have to be feeling rather hypocritical when pumping dino.

I've had to drop 2 sources because they were extending the periods between fryer oil changes. I was getting half as much, and it looked like pancake batter. No thanks!

You change your oil everycouple days? I wish I had a restaurant like you nearby! I was lucky to find one that changed every week.

Ha! I wonder if those "Biodiesel - No war required" folks are the ones getting in fistfights behind restaurants. The hipsters are already whining about some restaurants charging 50c/gallon for used oil. They think it should be free, some just steal it in the wee hours.

Nope. Not them. I'll find out who they are, though.

it used to be that you had to pay a service to remove the old used oil. just last week i had two calls from people that wanted to contract to pay me for used oil. i have heard of midnight incursions to steal waste oil stored behind restaurants.
unfortunately i don't have any fryers in my restaurant.

Happens in L.A. quite a bit.

I got a check for $30 last week. First time in about 5 years they paid me for the stuff.

I'm not paying yet, but I do drop off some beer for one restaurant owner every month. For the other restaurant, we are working out some "feel good" PR stuff for the local paper. I expect to be paying within a couple years.

Jake - I'm reading up on PlantDrive. That's a cool little system. :)

Is the performance the same with straight veggie as with diesel?

As far as I can tell, there is no difference in performance with this car. You just flip the switch on the dash and let 'er rip.

It's hard to say 100%, because with my previous cars I was able to reach the limit of their performance relatively easy. My '87 Samurai will go ~115kph on diesel, vs ~105 on veggie. My old Jetta would max out at 120kph on diesel, but would do 135 on veggie.

The e300d is a lot faster, so I haven't seen it's limit on either fuel. In September, I'm taking it to the university for 2 days of testing for emissions and horsepower. It'll be interesting to see what the numbers are. Another guy with an e300d like mine showed the highest HP on used canola, versus dino diesel or biodiesel.

Hmmm....wonder why the higher horsepower with your friend's car? Thicker fuel (veggie vs. dino). I know it needs to be thinned out, but could veggie still be a bit thicker? Race fuel, I think, is thicker than unleaded, which may be why there's a slight increase in horsepower on some engines. I'm not sure. I'm just learning in a layman's sort of way...

I have better fuel flow on veggie than on diesel.

On the diesel side, the final fuel lines by the diesel filter are ~1/4".

All of my fuel lines on the veggie side are 3/8". In terms of volume and fuel flow, that's a HUGE difference. Plus, my onboard veggie filter is HUGE, even as a 5micron filter it is designed to flow 200gph!

My setup has the fuel flow altered so that all fuel is SUCKED through filters instead of pushed. I monitor my filters with a vacuum gauge.

Interestingly, I found that the car runs a higher vacuum on diesel than on veggie. At 70mph, I see 8-10inHG vs 3-5 on veggie.

Typically, the car starts to bog down if vacuum gets above 15inHG. Part of that is air leaking past fuel o-rings. Mine are brand new and pretty tight, but at that vacuum the system starts to suck some air and bog down. My veggie filter has to be in REALLY bad shape to get to that point... I haven't done it yet.

So, is it true or not that modern diesels, particularly Bluetecs, can't run on veggie? I've heard they can, but still not sure.

There are 2-3 guys running veggie in 2005/2006 Benz 320 CDIs with common rail injection systems, plus smart cars and Powerstrokes. Those engines are very fussy about fuel pressures, viscosity and contamination. Converting one requires really understanding how to fool the engine management systems.

When I first got into this, people were saying you couldn't convert direct injection engines like the 98+ VW TDis, so I take the skeptics with a grain of salt. What is true is that as the engines become more complex, so do the conversions. I've seen early Benzes & VWs converted using garden hose and baling wire (no exaggeration). Converting a 35k used Mercedes like a 320CDi requires more finesse.

Even my mercedes was pretty old-school. The fuel plumbing is complex and involves many potential "Check Engine Light" triggers, but ultimately it's just a hotrod, DOHC, turborcharged old-school indirect injection, prechambered diesel.

One car I'd love to convert is an Accord 2.2CTDi. They have them in Europe, and I hear they're coming here next year. If they'd been available when I was car shopping, hard to say if I would've bought the Benz.

Cool! Let me do more reading on this. I can get hold of you through PlantDrive, or should I just PM you if I have more questions?