What is Biodiesel? How does it work? How is it made? How can you use it? What is the Vancouver Biodiesel Co-op,

1. Biodiesel 101
By: Luke Closs
@lukec
vancouverbiodiesel.org
@vanbiodiesel

2. What is Biodiesel?
• Renewable fuel for Diesel Engines
• Derived from natural oils
• Meets ASTM D 6751 specification
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3. What is Biodiesel?
• Biodiesel can be mixed with Petro-diesel in any
ratio.
– B50 is 50% Biodiesel, 50% Petrodiesel
– B100 is 100% Biodiesel
• Biodiesel can be used in most Diesel engines
with little or no modification
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4. Rudolf Diesel
• Design the Diesel
engine to run on
peanut fuel
• Farmers can be
more independent
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5. Rudolf Diesel
• “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may
seem insignificant today. But such oils may
become in the course of time as important as
petroleum and the coal tar products of the present
time” - 1912
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6. Biodiesel Performance
• Pretty much the same as Petrodiesel
• Highest BTU content of any alternative fuel
• High lubricity
– protects, extends engine life
– Low sulfur diesel has a very low lubricity, requires an
additive. Biodiesel solves this.
• Fuel consumption, horsepower, torque, similar to
petrodiesel.
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7. Biodiesel Toxicity
• Very high flash point (260°F vs 125°F for diesel)
• Safest fuel to use, handle, store
• Biodegrades four times faster than petrodiesel
• Will not harm fish
• Less toxic than table salt
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8. B5 Today
• BC Provincial government mandated that diesel
fuel must contain at least a 5% biodiesel content
– Even a B2 blend greatly improves lubricity
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9. What is Biodiesel Not?
• Biodiesel is not Ethanol!
– Ethanol is made from fermenting the whole corn
kernel to ethanol
– Ethanol is intended only for gasoline engines
– “Drink the best and burn the rest”
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10. What is Biodiesel Not?
• Biodiesel is not raw vegetable oil
• Veggie Oil can also be used as a fuel, often called
WVO - Waste Veggie Oil
• WVO can be burned in Diesel engines, but
requires modifications to the fuel system.
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11. Brief Diversion: WVO
• How do waste veggie oil systems work?
• SVO - Straight Veggie Oil
– Fuel system is modified to pre-heat fuel before it gets
to the engine
• Dual Fuel Systems
– Start up engine on petro/bio-diesel, let it get warm
– Switch fuel system over to WVO
– Switch back to purge system at end of trip
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12. Biodiesel & Clean Air
• Biodiesel exhaust is safer to breathe
• Less offensive exhaust
– smells more like french fries
• Reduces cancer-causing compounds by 80-90%
• Reduces particulate matter in exhaust
• Lowers net carbon in biosphere
• Soy B100 reduces lifecycle CO2 by 78%
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13. Biodiesel & Energy Balance
• Highest energy balance of any fuel
– 3.2 units of energy gained per one unit of fossil fuel
to produce
• Petroleum diesel production creates negative
energy balance
– 0.88 unit of energy per one unit of fossil fuel
• One gallon of biodiesel could conserve four
gallons of petroleum diesel!
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14. Making Biodiesel
• Raw Materials:
– Oil or Fat
– Alcohol
– Catalyst
• Mechanically combine
• Yields: Biodiesel and Glycerin
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15. Raw Materials - Fats
• Soybean • Animal Tallow
• Corn • Used Cooking Oils
• Canola • Camellia
• Cottonseed
• Sunflower • Algae?
• Lards
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16. Raw Materials - Other
• Alcohol
– Methanol
– Ethanol
• Catalyst
– Sodium hydroxide
– Potassium hydroxide
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17. Biodiesel Reaction
• In the presence of a catalyst, combining:
• 100 lbs of oil + 10 lbs of Methanol/Ethanol
– yields:
• 100 lbs of Biodiesel + 10 lbs of Glycerin
– (Assuming reaction is pushed to 100%)
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18. Homebrew
• You can do this at home!
• In a blender:
– Waste veggie oil
– Methanol
– Lie
• Mix!
• Let sit
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19. Quality
• Need to remove all the free glycerin
• Need to remove all the lie
• Need to remove all the methanol
• Need to remove any water in the oil
• You do not want these in your engine.
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20. Improving Quality
• Oil can be heated to remove water
– Especially for WVO
• After the mechanical combination with the
catalyst, the biodiesel can be “washed” to remove
the catalyst, alcohols & glycerin.
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21. Homebrew
• You can produce high quality biodiesel at home
with a small scale reactor
– It’s a decent amount of work
– Professional fuel testing is very expensive, so it’s
hard to say exactly the quality
– Burn it yourself, but questionable to homebrew for
other people
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22. Biodiesel in the Pacific Northwest
• Consumer locations:
– Vancouver Biodiesel Co-op (more later)
– B5 at the pump (meh)
– Duncan (Vancouver Island)
– Bellingham
– I5 Corridor
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23. Biodiesel in the Pacific Northwest
• Producers / Distributors:
– Consolidated Biofuels - Delta, BC
– Cowichan Biodiesel Co-op - Duncan, BC
– Whole Energy - Washington State
– Cascadia Biofuels - Washington
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24. Biodiesel and Taxes
• Prior to July 2010, Biodiesel was exempt from
the Motor Fuels Tax (26¢/Litre)
• BC’s carbon tax was introduced. Biodiesel gets
another 6.39¢/L
• Biodiesel is suddenly no longer price competitive
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25. Biodiesel Incentives
• In the USA, a “blenders credit” is given for
blending Biodiesel with Diesel of 1¢/gal for each
% of biodiesel.
• B99 yields a 99¢/gal credit
• As a result, almost all BC produced biodiesel
goes to the US - $1 profit right there.
– It often comes back into Canada after
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26. BC’s B5 Mandate
• BC Mandated B5 in all diesel sold
• All this biodiesel comes up from the US, often
very far away
• Done by the big oil companies
• Tradeoff: more bio litres vs supporting local bio
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27. Burning Bio in your Car
• Old diesels pretty much love it.
• Those japanese vans you see around?
– They love biodiesel
• B20 and lower is a drop-in replacement for diesel
• Take cold weather precautions
•
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28. Burning Bio - Some maintenance
• Biodiesel has a solvent effect
• Cleans out buildup from petro-diesel
• Fuel filters can clog up from the petro-diesel crud
– Change fuel filter after 6 months of biodiesel use
• Biodiesel can eat rubber fuel lines, gaskets
– Replace them with synthetic lines (Viton)
– Only applies to vehicles older than mid nineties
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29. Burning Bio - Rich Blends
• B100 issues to be aware of:
– Cold flow issues (gelling)
– Rubber hoses, gaskets
– Cleaning effect is more immediate
– Fuel filter clogging is the most common problem
• Keep a spare, if possible
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30. B20 vs Diesel
• Same issues you’d expect, except:
– Less lubricity problems
– Fuel filter problems due to diesel crud or bad
biodiesel
– Less black smoke from the exhaust!
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31. Biodiesel & Your Warranty
• Usually warranties are the biggest impediment to
burning biodiesel in new cars
– All major OEMs support at least B5 & lower
provided they meat ASTM D 6751
– Increasingly support for B20 is seen
– Play it safe or know what you’re doing!
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32. Sounds great, where do I get some?
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33. VBC: 360 Industrial Ave

34. Google's Eye View of our Co-op

35. Co-op Chair (Dave) at our Pump

36. In the beginning …
• VBC was started in 2003
• Robb Miller & Recycling Alternative
• Homebrew Biodiesel from WVO
• 50L drum
• Honour system - pen, paper & a
binder

37. In the beginning … Problems!
Growing pains
• Tank runs dry
• Losing $$

38. In the beginning … Infrastructure!
• RA purchases:
o 4000L tank, cardlock, old pump
• RA admin staff process payments
• City likes it, but uncomfortable, unsure
o RA: Install Concrete pad, berm, drain
o City: ☺

39. VBC … Today
• BC's biggest biofuel co-op:
o 200+ members
o Only source of B100 in Greater
Vancouver Area
o 4000L tank, 24/7 cardlock
o ~2000-6000L sold per month

40. VBC … Challenges
• Technical
o Cold winters are cold
o High taxes are high
o Manual processes are manual
• Social
o Maintaining an engaged Board of Directors
o Engaging our membership

41. VBC … Projects

42. VBC: Automated Billing
• Created by Luke & Recycling Alternative
• Web based tool for Co-op Admin
• Interfaces with cardlock in realtime
• Tracks all members, all purchases

43. VBC: Automated Billing
• Transactions sent to CC processor
• Email receipt / invoice sent to member
• Bad accounts are frozen

44. VBC: Automated Billing
• Benefits
o Lower costs (Less admin time)
o Detailed usage tracking
o More scalable
Could add more pumps
o More professional

45. VBC: Future
• Expansion: More pumps in Lower Mainland?
BC?
o Made possible by automated system
o Cardlock + Fuel Tank + Trailer + GPS + Cell
Modem + Solar Panel = Portable Biodiesel
Fuel Network!
• Engagement:
o More active Board of Directors
o More engaged membership

46. VBC: Future
• Collaboration with other BC Co-ops
o BC Biodiesel Network?
o Co-op "roaming" capability?
• Integrating WVO Collection capabilities?
o Goal: Local fuel, lower costs

47. Biodiesel and Organizational
Structures
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48. Co-ops are great
• “Sharing” vs “Buying”
– Less strict guidelines when you are sharing
• Ideally less overhead because no profit taking
• Operational costs are often cheaper for non-
profits and co-op organizations
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49. Co-ops are great, but …
• 80/20 rule - (95/5?)
– 95% of the work is done by 5% of the people
– no profit incentive means easy to burnout people
• Hard to be successful alone as a co-op
• Most people just want to buy fuel, they don’t
want to make it.
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50. Vancouver Biodiesel Co-op
• Today just a legal structure co-op, advocacy
group
• Operations is all done by a benevolent company
– Recycling Alternative
• They run their diesel vehicle fleet on biodiesel
– They organize the fuel purchases, resupply, billing
• VBC couldn’t operate today without RA
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51. Cowichan / Duncan
• Started out as a members co-op
• Members picked up oil, made fuel, shared it.
• People join to get cheap fuel, don’t want to work-
• Makers get tired, aren’t compensated
• Time for a change
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52. Cowichan Biodiesel Co-op
• smellbetter.org
• Buys biodiesel, has a 4000L tank, cardlock,
pump
• Sells pre-paid cards to members
• Operationally light, but still supported by other
orgs …
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53. Cowichan Grease Corporation
• (Not the real name)
• For-profit entity that does the dirty work of
collecting grease, filtering it, preparing it for
biodiesel
• Sells grease to …
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54. Cowichan Energy Alternatives
• Registered non-profit
• Got a great deal with local municipality on a
building for a biodiesel processor
• Buys oil from the grease puller corp
• Sells biodiesel to the co-op
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55. Using the best of each organization
• Co-operative
– Sharing a resource, annual fees, low overhead
• Non-profit
– Can get free things from gov / corporations
• For-profit
– For the hard work, yield profit
– Hopefully we don’t burn out, it can be sustainable
•
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56. Thank You!
Twitter: @lukec
info@vancouverbiodiesel.org
http://vancouverbiodiesel.org

57. Sources
• http://www.slideshare.net/educationprojects/
biodiesel-101
• http://www.slideshare.net/biodieselautomotive/
technical-overview-of-biodiesel
• http://smellbetter.org
•
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