Back in 2007, when Volkswagen was kicking off its Dieselution tour, we asked VW of America CEO Stefan Jacoby about official support for biodiesel concentrations higher than five percent. At the time there was no national standard for B20 biodiesel blends and Volkswagen would not provide warranty coverage for engines that used higher concentrations. However, Jacoby indicated that once a fuel standard was in place, the company would revisit the issue. Last June, a B20 standard was finalized, and it goes into effect in October. During the Jetta TDI drive last week, ABG asked about B20 use in the new car and VW communications director Steve Keyes responded that VW was not yet prepared to support B20 use. The new standard is primarily targeted at commercial fuels and supported fuels are still not widely available. There are concerns that the higher bio concentrations will result in excessive ash build-up in the particulate filter and other issues. Mercedes gave ABG a similar response in June when we drove the BlueTec diesel SUVs. Both companies will continue monitoring the fuel situation and the situation may change in the future.

Apparently, this hasn't stopped the proprietor of DieselGreen fuels in Austin TX. Jason Burroughs has just bought a brand new 2009 Jetta that he is running on B100. Burroughs is documenting his experience with the pure biofuel manufactured by New Energy Fuels of Houston on the TDIClub Forums. So far he hasn't had any issues, but plans to regularly test the condition of the engine oil and post updates on his progress. For those planning to buy a new Jetta or any other diesel vehicle, we don't recommend following this path while your vehicle is still under warranty. If you get some bad fuel, you could be out many thousands of dollars. However, if you are doing this let us know how things are progressing, because biodiesel has a great deal of potential.


[Sources: TDIClub Forum, DieselGreen]

Tomorrow, two guys who love them some white bandanas - Nik and Brian - will get into their 2006 Volkswagen Jetta TDI in New York City and attempt to drive all the way to Los Angeles in 36 hours using just one* tank of gas. They're calling the 3,000-mile journey "Willie Run" and the Jetta has been christianed Willie One. The car uses not just the stock gas tank but also a "second, high-capacity fuel tank" in the trunk. Details on the modification here.

Over the weekend, the Willie Run guys drove up from Atlanta to New York, testing the live streaming and chatting equipment, which is apparently hosted by something called Ustream. I'm sure we'll be hearing more from the guys once they hit the road on Monday. Thanks to Amy B. for the tip.

[Source: Willie Run]

It's no secret to the majority of our readers that it is possible to run many older diesel engines on nothing more than straight vegetable oil. In fact, the first diesel engine, invented by Rudolph Diesel, ran on peanut oil. This fact is also well known by the students at the Michigan Technical Academy who have converted their own school buses to run on waste vegetable oil. Garden Fresh Foods in Ferndale, Michigan is providing used veggie oil that was first used to fry tortilla chips for no charge. The total cost of the fuel for the two buses that are running on 100-percent veggie oil is estimated at about 80-cents a gallon. Other buses are running on a 10-percent blend of oil and diesel fuel. As the temps in Michigan go down, the blend will be adjusted, though the students are currently hard at work solving that problem with heaters. Great work.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Mitsubishi will be bringing four Racing Lancer vehicles to next year's challenging Dakar Rally and, while tearing up the landscape in a big SUV might not seem to be the most environmentally sound thing to do (because it's not) there is a green angle to the race. This is due to Mitsubishi's new turbodiesel engine that will be running on non-food-sourced biodiesel (which percentage blend Mitsubishi isn't saying). Mitsubishi is also proud of the renewable "green plastic" components - bumper corners and mud guards - made from carbon-neutral vegetable-based resins.

Should Mitsubishi win in January - and it's likely, since they've won every Dakar event since 2001 - it will be their first victory using diesel power. When we last mentioned Mitsubishi's entry in April, we said they'd be using a new 260 horsepower three-liter turbo diesel V6 engine. That number has since been bumped to 280, and the company expects the power to be increased further by the time the race starts. More details after the jump.

Following a terrorist threat earlier this year - which forced the cancellation of the 2008 rally, Dakar 2009 will take place in South America instead of West Africa. Dakar, the city, will remain in Senegal.


[Source: Mitsubishi]

Photo by C.P.Storm. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Let's see, two million minus 400,000 is ... carry the two ... 1.6 million. Alternately, eighty percent of the total. That's what we're dealing with with the current status of the Two Million Mile Haul being undertaken by groups like the Iowa Soybean Association, the National Renewable Energy Lab and the National Biodiesel Board. Over the course of those blue two million miles, the organizing groups are testing standard diesel fuel and biodiesel (B20) head-to-head to see which one performs better in terms of fuel efficiency and general performance. Thus far, B20 is performing at a level "comparable to that of petroleum diesel," according to a report on eTrucker. The interim results were announced in Dallas at the Great American Trucking Show on Thursday.

The Two Million Mile Haul started in 2006 and should be finished before 2008 is up. Other partners in the test include Iowa Central Community College, Decker Truck Lines Inc., Caterpillar Inc., and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Twenty semis running between Minneapolis and Chicago make up the test fleet.

[Source: eTrucker]

Thanks to diesel's high-mpg factor and some of Europe's small countries, it's not impossible to hit six nations on one tank of fuel. Here in the U.S., though, the distances are a bit longer, and we can't quite make it to as many lands without refueling. Some see the distance as a challenge to be conquered, like Nik Bristow and his driving buddy, who intend to take a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta TDI from NYC to Los Angeles on one* tank of gas. The trip will take place about a month from now and is named after Mr. Biodiesel himself, Willie Nelson.

Willie Run will set off from Manhattan on September 22 with the intent to arrive in LA on the the 24th. The whole "one tank" thing, though, needs to be explained, since there's no Jetta available that's going to drive the whole 3,000 miles without a refil. The guys installed a "second, high-capacity fuel tank" into Willie One to provide the needed fuel. Bristow sent and email to AutoblogGreen to explain the reason why:

Why do it? Well, outside the circles of car junkies and hippie-types, biodiesel is still relatively unknown, at least in America. The average Joe who's feeling the squeeze at the pump thinks that his only option for an environmentally responsible fuel-sipper is a hybrid. But as we car-lovers know, diesels are comparatively much more efficient than their gasoline counterparts, sometimes even more than their hybrid colleagues, and can still deliver great performance. When you add biodiesel to the equation, a diesel-powered vehicle is one of the best options for the environment, the wallet and for our domestic energy security. Willie Run '08 aims to make that a well-known fact.

Get more details at the Willie Run site and stay tuned for updates. Bristow said he hopes that the Willie Run will become an annual event, with a whole fleet of "coast-to-coast cruisers from University Engineering Schools, major auto manufacturers, backyard tinkerers and maybe even TEAM AUTOBLOGGREEN." We'll see.

[Source: Willie Run / Nik Bristow]

It's been a tough year or so for Imperium Renewable. Imperium, the force behind one of America's largest biodiesel plants, is a Seattle-area company that was hit with a lawsuit from a former employee this spring. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer details the many other problems facing Imperium: a cancelled IPO, layoffs executives leaving. The latest dark spot comes from the sunny tropics (sort of), because cruise giant Royal Caribbean Cruises has canceled a ginormous biodiesel contract with Imperium. The early end of the 18-million-gallon-a-year contract (which was supposed to run through 2011) is "raising questions about the future of the $78 million facility," the Seattle PI writes, refering to the big 100mgpy plant in Grays Harbor County, Washington. The two companies aren't talking about why the contract was canceled, but I'm guessing that the sluggish economy is dampening people's enthusiasm for expensive cruises these days, and Royal Caribbean just plain needs less fuel. Could have something to do with it, right?

[Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

It seems that Changing World Technologies have finally solved the offal odor pollution problem at their turkey byproducts to biodiesel plant and are ready to begin bigger and better things. The company, which uses a thermal conversion process (TCP) to break down waste into fuel and organic fertilizer, wants to raise $100 million to fund an expansion and has filed an S1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to begin the process. The allocation and price of shares in the IPO will be decided by an auction process handled by the offering underwriter, WR Hambrecht & Co, as well as other securities dealers. The company currently produces between 4 to 9 million gallons of biodiesel a year and could reach 54 million gallons a year with the expansion. Although it is currently selling its fuel to industrial boilers, it has been approved by the EPA for use a an additive in diesel. It will have to be improved somewhat to be considered for full use as a transportation fuel.

[Source: Cnet.com / Green Car Congress]

While production of biofuels has been steadily increasing in recent years, retail availability has been growing at a much slower rate with just over 1,600 E85 stations now in operation. Representatives Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) and John Shimkus (R-IL) have introduced a bill in Congress to provide incentives to station owners to install biofuel pumps. The bill would increase the tax credit from 30 percent of the incremental cost of biofuel pumps to 50 percent of the total cost. It would also increase the maximum claim from $30,000 to $100,000. The new rules would apply to both E85 and biodiesel pumps.

[Source: hersethsandlin.house.gov]

The Morrisons supermarket chain in the UK are now offering B30 biodiesel at 50 of the filling stations it operates. The blend of 30 percent biodiesel and 70 percent petro-diesel is one of the highest commercially available concentrations that is actually approved by an automaker. Peugeot and Citroen have certified all the diesel vehicles it has built for the past decade for use with B30. An estimated 1.5 million HDi models from Puegeot/Citroen are warrantied for use with the newly available fuel. The biofuel component of the fuel being offered by Morrisons is comprised of equal parts waste vegetable oil and rapeseed (canola) oil. Ford has not determined whether the diesel engines that it has jointly developed with Peugeot are capable of operating safely on B30.

[Source: AutoCar]

Over the past year, the price of diesel fuel has climbed up above the cost of gasoline and stayed there consistently. Unfortunately for diesel drivers, that price differential also applies to biodiesel to an even larger degree. Nonetheless, the extra 10 cents a gallon for B20 over straight petroleum diesel hasn't stopped people at one station in Fort Collins, Colorado. Sales of Blue Sun B20 at the Team Petroleum have continued to climb this year even at the higher prices although some other stations have discontinued selling B20. It's possible that drivers who are only marginally interested in using a greener fuel have given up on the more expensive option. With the reduced availability, other more environmentally conscious drivers have probably switched over to the Team station as a result. The city of Fort Collins is still using B20 in city vehicles as well although they may have to reconsider if prices continue to climb.

[Source: The Coloradoan]

Fans of biodiesel have reason for a small celebration as this week as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) voted to approve a standard for B20 biodiesel. ASTM controls the standards for commercially available fuels (among many other things) to ensure that what is sold at the pump meets certain minimum requirements for performance and content. Automakers test all of their vehicles with ASTM standard fuels validate, performance efficiency and durability of the components. Until now, there was only a standard for commercial biodiesel blends up to 5 percent. Chrysler, among others, has been shipping diesel-powered vehicles from the factory filled with B5 for several years and warranties engines when used with B5.

Now that the B20 standard has been ratified most carmakers, including Chrysler and Volkswagen, have indicated that they will test their diesel engines and modify them if necessary so that they can be covered by the warranty when operated with B20. ASTM also approved standards for the use of up to 5 percent biodiesel in standard diesel fuels. Those of you choosing to run on the cast-offs from fast food joints and Chinese restaurants are still on your own for now.

[Source: National Biodiesel Board]

Neste Oil has announced plans to build a new biomass-to-liquid diesel plant in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The plant will produce what the company calls NExBTL renewable diesel fuel at the rate of 800,000 tonnes per year after it begins operating in 2011. Neste will spend about €670 million (a little over $1 billion at current exchange rates) on the facility which will use Neste's processes to convert a mix of palm and rapeseed oils and animal fat into a high-quality diesel fuel. Neste already has a smaller plant in Finland using this process with another one the same size as the Dutch plant that was announced for Singapore last fall. The NExBTL fule is claimed to reduce total life cycle CO₂ emissions by 40-60 percent compared to petroleum diesel. Neste also has a variety of ongoing research projects to use non-food vegetable oils, wood waste and algae for diesel fuel production.

[Source: Neste Oil]

Biodiesel may no longer be quite the industry darling it was a year ago, but that doesn't mean everyone is taking a hold on approach. There were two big pieces of biodiesel news out this weekend, one from Houston, Texas and the other from San Francisco, California.

In Houston, as we first heard about almost a year ago, the largest biodiesel refinery in the U.S. is underway. Tomorrow, the plant will open at the Port of Houston. The refinery belongs to GreenHunter Energy and can make 105m gallons of biodiesel a year. The plant will use a variety of feedstocks (the only ones mentioned are the non-food tallow and jatropha) and can store 700,000 barrels of the biofuel onsite.

Meanwhile, over in San Francisco, the news is that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has given the city a million dollar grant to recycle restaurant grease into biodiesel. The city has been collecting grease since last year and the grant will be used to build a biodiesel production facility at the Oceanside Sewage Treatment Plant. The idea is to "create a closed loop where all of the grease its restaurants produce is recycled and used to power the city's fleet of biodiesel trucks," writes the San Francisco Business Times. Area biodiesel producers aren't pleased (the competition killed some of them), but the city is moving forward.

[Source: GreenHunter, San Francisco Business Times]

Photo by Yandle. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

President Bush vetoed the five-year, $289 billion Farm Bill today, saying it was too expensive in the current economic climate. Congress passed the bill by wide margins last week, and, as Bloomberg notes, a veto override is likely. So, what does this have to do with us here on AutoblogGreen? Biofuels, natch.

As the Des Moines Register notes, the Farm Bill has a lot to say about non-food crop ethanol. For one thing, there is a $1.01 per gallon tax credit for cellulosic ethanol (I'm sure Mascoma, Coskata, and other cellulosic ethanol pioneers are happy to hear that). The current 51 cent subsidy on each gallon of corn ethanol will drop to 45 cents. Second, relatedly, the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on ethanol imports will remain through 2010. Third, farmers who collect biomass to be used to make ethanol will get a $45 subsidy for each ton they collect (there is a two-year limit on earning this subsidy). Fourth, there is money set aside for biomass research ($118m, to be exact).

[Source: Des Moines Register]