BrevardBioDiesel Blog

I ran into this cloud point data recently. As most of the commercial biodiesel recently available in this area is produced from an animal fat feedstock, this can help you determine a safe blending ratio based on expected low temperatures:

This is from the "SBA Good Book of Biodiesel" produced by the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance.

The NYTimes reports on the Southern Ute's decision to invest in biodiesel from algae. Besides the potential profit, the group uses a longer philosphical viewpoint:

“It’s a marriage of an older way of thinking into a modern time,” said the tribe’s chairman, Matthew J. Box, referring to the interplay of environmental consciousness and investment opportunity around algae. ... “It reminded people of herbs that are helpful here, like bear root, which is harvested in the mountains,”

A co-founder of their Solix Biofuels company puts it this way:

They’re making decisions now for future generations as opposed to the next quarter, and that is just fundamentally different.”

That reminds me of the Iroquois law:

"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine."

Brian in Vero Beach has some oil for sale - contact him with any questions.
He describes it as "very nice oil (titrates under 2) and filtered to 1 micron"

Price: $300 per 275 gal. tote + $100 deposit on the tote.
Brian: 772 559 2151

PetroAlgae, a Melbourne FL based LLC, took part in the April 20th AFV 2009 session 'Organic Matters: Florida Agriculture Fueling Biofuels Growth' at AFV 2009. Fred Tennant, VP of Business Development, gave a presentation [2MB PDF] on the work being performed at PetroAlgae, including their 20 acre site for algae production in Fellsmere FL. He pointed out that oil produced from the algae has a viscosity somewhere between soy and palm oils. Their business model is based around licensing a modular algae production system for growth, harvesting, and processing of algae into oil, feed, and other products. Their algae strains are patented, and have gone through 20-30 thousand breeding cycles. Other presentations at the session included coverage of Jatropha, which was described as being able to grow, but not prosper, here in Central Florida.

This week, the Alternative Fuel & Vehicle conference was held in Orlando. On Sunday, a parade of alternative fuel vehicles was held as a public part of the event. Between 50 and 100 viewers watched, and emcee Mike Holfeld of Channel 6 described, approximately 20 participants as they drove past the Disney Dolphin resort. Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart was on hand to start the procession which included an electric bike, the 2010 Toyota Prius, a CNG powered lawn mower, an electric truck, a hydrogen powered bus, propane powered truck, and, most interesting from our point of, four "Clean Diesel" vehicles.

These vehicles use new exhaust technology to meet all 50 U.S. state emission regulations. They include the 2009 "Green Car of the Year" VW Jetta TDI, Mercedes-Benz ML 320 BlueTEC, and the BMW X5 xDrive35d. The National Biodiesel Board drove a VW TDI Cup Edition. All of these vehicles are on the market today.

Striking was the fuel 3 of the 4 diesels ran on: "Renewable Diesel". This is distinctly different from traditional biodiesel. While made from the same feedstocks (soy, algae, WVO, palm) as biodiesel - the chemical process and resulting fuel is much different from biodiesel and more similar to diesel. The hydrogenation process is very much like that used to "crack" crude oil, and is performed in similar refineries. With better cold weather properties than biodiesel, this second generation product is soon to be EPA approved in the U.S. It will be interesting to see how the U.S. market, and grassroots biodiesel advocates, differentiate this product from biodiesel. One hurdle for biodiesel to overcome with respect to new clean diesel exhaust systems, is lubrication oil dilution. That problem may limit users to strictly observing a B5 blend in 2009 and newer models, with no such limit necessary for the chemically-similar-to-petrodiesel Renewable Diesel fuel.