Biodiesel at the Renewable Energy Fair - Aug 9th Anchorage

The Renewable Energy Alaska Project is putting on their 3rd Annual Renewable Energy Fair Saturday August 9th, 11am-9pm at the Anchorage Parkstrip.

We will have a number of diesel vehicles running vegoil-SVO conversions for folks to check out, and will have a FREE introductory biodiesel and SVO seminar at 3pm. We've still got some spaces if you greasy drivers want to show off your rigs.

The fair itself is a great collection of renewable professionals and proponents from across the state, mixed in with great green vendors, scrumptious food and rocking tunes.

Daniel Lerch from the Post-Carbon Institute is the 5:15pm keynote speaker. "Daniel manages the Post Carbon Cities program, providing resources and assistance to local governments on peak oil and climate change. He is the author of Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty, the first major municipal guidebook on peak oil and global warming."

A big thank you goes out to the Knik Group Sierra Club for sponsoring our Alaska Biodiesel and SVO Network booth.

For those of you looking to make a day of it, other workshops include:

Noon:
Deborah Williams, The Role of Renewable Energy in Addressing Global Warming
Peter Crimp, Wood Energy in Alaska – Renewed Interest in an Old Standby
Marvin Kuentzel and RJ Vasser, Renewable Energy System Design Basics

1 pm:
Robin Richardson, Just One More Reason to Watch What We Eat… The Amazing Relationship Between Food and Energy
Steve Gilbert, Fire Island Wind Update
Eric Yould, Hydropower in Alaska

2 pm:
Mike Willmon, Electric Vehicle Technology
Maryellen Oman and Cynthia Wentworth, Commuter Rail… It’s Time Has Come
David Lockard, Alaska’s Near-term Geothermal Development Prospects

3 pm:
Will Taygan, Backyard Biodiesel
Andy Baker, Solar Hot Water for Homeowners and Businesses
Chris Rose, Renewable Energy Policy in Alaska: Successes and Challenges

4 pm:
Bill Leighty, Brining Alaska’s Large, Diverse, Stranded Renewables to Alaska and Global Markets as Hydrogen and Ammonia with Firming Storage
Larry Flowers, Wind Energy: an Alaskan Opportunity
Doug Johnson, Overview of Tidal and In-Stream Hydrokinetic Projects in Alaska

Veg On!

Alaska Fish Oil Biodiesel Grant Reopened

The Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) $180,000 grant I wrote about in 13 million gallons of Alaska Fish Oil has finally been reopened.

More info at the State of Alaska's Public Notice.

Here's some excerpts from the grant's introduction:

The Alaska seafood industry processes approximately 4.4 billion pounds of fish annually, producing approximately 2.2 billion pounds of “waste,” those portions of the fish not processed for human or industrial consumption. Of that waste, approximately 62 percent is discharged into state waters. The discharged fish waste contains an estimated 13 million gallons of unrecovered fish oil.

Besides its use in pharmaceuticals and agriculture/aquaculture feeds, Alaska fish oil has been demonstrated as a suitable supplementary or displacement fuel in applications burning diesel as a thermal fuel (in boilers or heaters) and, in some circumstances, as an engine fuel. Alaska fishoil has also been demonstrated as excellent feedstock oil for the production of biodiesel (methyl esters).

A major hurdle hindering further oil recovery from Alaska-generated fish processing wastes is that the waste is generated at numerous geographically dispersed sites over relatively short periods of time in following harvesting practices of wild stocks. This tends to discourage investment in and the economic viability of fixed location oil recovery facilities, the most common model. Further, fish waste is generally not amenable to aggregation and transport as it is bulky, difficult to handle, and degrades rapidly unless frozen or otherwise preserved.

The intent of this project is to provide grant funding and technical/business support toward the development, construction, and demonstrated operation of a mobile fish oil recovery module. This module will be employed at and relocated between multiple existing processing sites thereby increasing its annual utilization and economic return. It is expected that at some processing sites, the fish oil product will be retained and utilized by the host facility and/or community to displace the use of conventional diesel engine or boiler fuels.

Need more info about the application? Contact the grant manager, James Jensen at (907) 771-3000.

Veg On!

Alaska Suppliers of Biodiesel Chemicals.

• 50# Bags NaOH, KOH - Garness Industrial, Anchorage 907-562-2933
• 55 Gallon Drum Methanol - Inlet Petroleum, Anchorage 907-274-3835
• 2# NaOH (Roebic Crystal Drain Opener) - Lowe's
• 1# KOH - Arctic Vegwerks, Chugiak 907-688-5288
• 12 oz. Methanol (HEET - yellow bottle)
• Phenolphthalein Indicator - Arctic Vegwerks, Chugiak 907-688-5288

The homebrewer of biodiesel quickly discovers that you can't HazMat ship small quantities of chemicals to Alaska. It's lower 48 only.

The big chemical supplier in Anchorage is Univar. Unfortunately they DON'T want to deal with individuals, wholesale to businesses only. Furthermore, they told me on the phone that they don't want to sell to backyard brewers of biodiesel, even if they have a business license. What's more, they asked me if I had a fuel distributor license (which I do) and where my biodiesel facility was. I explained that I teach classes and seminars, including courses at UAA and APU, and they would "check" if they could sell to me. Ugh.

Next call was to Garness Industrial 907-562-2933, who resell chemicals to individuals and were great to deal with. Their single 50 pound bag price for NaOH and KOH was cheaper than the single bag price from Univar.

Garness prices June 16, 2008:

50# NaOH $57.50
50# KOH $107.00

Inlet Petroleum 907-274-3835, is a major petroleum distributor down at the Port of Anchorage. Their current price for a 55 gallon drum of methanol is $335.36, 10% more than Univar's single drum price, but they sell to individuals.

For SMALLER QUANTITIES of chemicals your options are limited.

Lowe's sells 2 pounds of pure NaOH branded as "Roebic (Heavy Duty) Crystal Drain Opener" for $8.68. The Tudor store was sold out, so I went to Wasilla to pick some up.

For those looking for Phenolphthalein Indicator solution, Arctic Vegwerks 907-688-5288 (yes, that's us) sells 30ml dropper bottles for $10. We also sell one pound bags of KOH for $10, 3 pounds for $20.

Small quantities of Methanol are sold as HEET in the YELLOW BOTTLE as most gas stations and grocery stores (I get mine at Fred Meyer).

Veg On!

Salmon Biodiesel at Oceans Festival June 7th Anchorage

Come down to the Anchorage Parkstrip Saturday Afternoon for the Alaska Oceans Festival and visit the Alaska Biodiesel and SVO Network booth. We'll be sharing space with our non-profit sponsor, the Alaska Chapter Sierra Club.

Salmon oil biodiesel demonstrations will be offered every hour or so throughout the afternoon, but be sure to stick around for the evening beers and music.

Son Volt is playing a free show 7:30pm, with Fairbanks jam-Americana band Sweating Honey opening at 6pm. The 4pm keynote speaker is Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of legendary explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

As a side note, we're in need of clear 2-liter soda bottles (with caps) for upcoming biodiesel events. If you have a few please drop them off at the booth!

Veg On!

Hands-On Biodiesel Brewing Class - June 14, 2008 - Palmer

Saturday June 14, 2008 - 12:30pm

$39 at the APU Kellogg Campus, Spring Creek Farm, Palmer

Please join Arctic Vegwerks for an afternoon hands-on biodiesel brewing class and make your own fuel! Participants will learn how to collect oil, test it, and create a small batch of biodiesel to take home. Registration is required, and the course fee includes all safety equipment, lab supplies and ingredients for a test batch.

Hands-On Biodiesel Brewing is the second in a series of biodiesel and vegoil events and classes this summer. New students are welcome. See the events page at www.AlaskaBiodiesel.org for more information.

Spring Creek Farm is located at 6404 N. Lossing Rd in Palmer, Alaska.

From Anchorage take the Glenn Hwy past Palmer and turn LEFT on Farm Loop Road, after few driveways turn RIGHT at the Spring Creek Farm sign onto Lossing Road. Continue to the white farm buildings on your right.

Sponsored by Arctic Vegwerks in cooperation with Alaska Pacific University.

Click here for registration information (132k pdf). Call Will Taygan at 907-688-5288 for more information.

37 degrees and light.

Yep, May 1st marks the start of the outdoor biodiesel brewing season. It's also the day we're supposed to take the studs off the tires, but since there was a big snowstorm the last few days of April the state is letting us keep them on until May 15th.

There's little bit of snow on the shady side of the house, and a few of the big dumb mosquitoes flying around. Thankfully their tiny, fast and numerous cousins haven't hatched yet.

It's only 37 degrees out, but I pulled the clear frying oil cubies out of their cardboard boxes and let them sit in the sun all day. They flowed smoothly out of the boxes and through the paint strainer into my 55 gallon drum. Although the little harbor freight clear water pump was a little slow moving the oil from the drum to the appleseed. This year's new addition is a refrigerator compressor that pulls some suction to prime the pump. That priming feature is a very, very nice addition.

I've got the first 2008 batch drying in an open top drum with a bubbler in it, but I don't know how much drying it will do in the wet, heavy, almost-freezing air.

I'm also just about out of the few hundred gallons of SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) that I filtered for 2-tank SVO driving all winter. It's time to get busy!

Oh yeah, today I sent my $1.72 in taxes to the state for my April SVO use. I'll have to have a talk with my representative about personal-use exemptions. He lives a couple miles down the road, and Alaska is very familiar with subsistence and personal use issues.

All this and I'm working by the twilight at 11:00 pm.

Yep, May in Alaska.

Veg On!

Backyard Biodiesel Basics Class - May 14, 2008 - Palmer

Wednesday May 14, 2008 - 7pm

FREE at the APU Kellogg Campus, Spring Creek Farm, Palmer

Please join us for an evening lecture and demonstration. We will cover both biodiesel brewing and straight-vegetable-oil conversions. Seating is limited, so arrive early to guarantee your spot.

Backyard Biodiesel Basics is the first in a series of biodiesel and vegoil events and classes this summer. See the events page at AlaskaBiodiesel.org for more information.

This seminar is based on the biodiesel program offered at the Bioneers conference. Those folks who attended the session at Bioneers are encouraged to sign-up for the second class in this series, offered June 14th, where participants will be making their own batches of biodiesel.

Spring Creek Farm is located at 6404 N. Lossing Rd in Palmer, Alaska. From Anchorage take the Glenn Hwy past Palmer and turn LEFT on Farm Loop Road, after few driveways turn RIGHT at the Spring Creek Farm sign onto Lossing Road. Continue to the white farm buildings on your right.

Sponsored by Arctic Vegwerks and the Alaska Biodiesel and SVO Network, in cooperation with Alaska Pacific University.

Call Will Taygan at 907-688-5288 for more information.

Earth Day biodiesel and SVO on AK radio.

AK radio ran a nice 5 minute segment on Alaskans burning vegoil and biodiesel during their Earth Day program. You can download the entire 04/19/2008 program from the archives at akradio.org.

Here's the summary for the show:

April 22nd is Earth Day, and on this week's AK, we'll pay tribute to the planet. We'll learn about sustainable agriculture, and visit a hotel that runs on the same stuff you use to cook your French fries. Plus, recycling old Crocs, and figuring out which plastic bottles are safe, and which ones might land you in hot water. It's all on AK from the Alaska Public Radio Network.

If you're looking for just the biodiesel segment, a low-quality (32k mp3) version is available here.

Veg On!

Biofuels [kind of] Blamed in Food Crisis

The Anchorage Daily News ran a New York Times article at the top of the Nation and World section today that the ADN retitled "Biofuels blamed in food crisis."

Other than the inflammatory title, the article itself is pretty good. It admits that biofuels - especially corn-based ethanol - does have an impact, but that it is "relatively small and that energy costs and soaring demand for meat in developing countries have had a bigger impact."

The article goes on to report that "grocery prices in the United States increased about 5 percent over the last year."

A decade ago we were lamenting that family farms were failing because of low crop prices. The soybean growers had a market for their meal, but the oil was terribly undervalued. They went ahead and formed the National Biodiesel Board to create a market for their soybean oil. It looks like they succeeded.

That being said, it's easy to take a good idea and implement it poorly. The giant Three Gorges Dam in China is a terrible example of hydropower. Altamont Pass in California was built in the middle of a raptor migration route, giving a wind power a bird-killing reputation that has been hard for it to shed.

There's no way we can grow ourselves out of our fossil fuel addiction. Biofuels, however, can be a sustainable part of our future energy mix.

Capturing waste fryer oil and oil from discarded fish carcasses could provide over 13 million gallons of biodiesel in Alaska every year. Combine this with the Canola production potential of the old barley farms in Delta, and we will have a significant impact on our local energy needs - sustainably - and without completing with global food supplies.

P.S. If you want more insight on the food vs. fuel arguments check out Clayton's post over at gas2.org.

Grease Price Conspiracies.

With diesel prices going up, there's been a lot of interest from folks trying to save a buck with our Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) systems. Amazingly, Anchorage has a SVO-friendly grease collection company, Alaska Mill and Feed. They have been selling SVO drivers 55 gallon drums of filtered, dewatered, used (sometimes heavily used) cooking oil, known on the commodities market as "Yellow Grease."

It's been priced at 75 cents a gallon for a few years, but recently they raised the price to $1.00 a gallon. I've heard rumblings in the local vegoil community that maybe Mill and Feed is just trying to squeeze us a little, since diesel prices are so high. This couldn't be further from the truth.

A quick check at the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service's Bioenergy Portal leads us to the National Weekly Ag Energy Round-up. Yellow Grease is commanding an amazing 33 cents a pound on the open market.

Since Yellow Grease runs about 7.6 pounds per gallon, at 33 cents a pound, the market rate is just over $2.50 a gallon! Those 35 pound (about 4.5 gallon) cubies of old fryer oil are now worth $11.55, double what grease was selling for a year ago!

Even with shipping costs to the lower 48, Mill and Feed is losing money by selling grease at the low local price. Mark, the plant manager, has done a great job cleaning up their oil and keeping costs low for Alaskans. We're lucky to have such a great business supporting Alaska biofuels.

Alaska Biodiesel Night a Success!

Wow, we had over 100 people turn out to yesterday's Alaska Biodiesel Night. Folks flew in from all over the state, and many of key biofuel folks were in the audience to help answer the tricky questions:

Hans Geier, the Delta Canola famer has solved the problems that growing Canola in Alaska has been faced with in the past, and spoke about his farm-scale oil press.

James Jensen from the Alaska Energy Authority updated us on fish-oil projects, specifically mentioning their use of antioxidants for fuel preservation, the portable rendering plant grant, and studies to determine the benefits to the environment by capturing the oil from carcasses instead of dumping them.

A fisherman (Brian Pauling, I think?) from Dillingham asked about shelf-life and stability of fish guts/oil/biodiesel, as they are trying to get a fish oil energy project off the ground.

Tim Hudson was there to testify about the National Park Service's successes with B100, and specifically mentioned using heated fuel systems to keep B100 driving down to -38F.

And many other folks brought up great points, from "secret diesel" recipes and unheated blending proposals, to biodiesel efforts on prop airplanes.

Anthony Destafano from SEAKsolutions, flew up from Juneau and gave a great presentation on Southeast Alaska's renewable energy potential. He focused on the fact that biodiesel can help now, and doesn't require the years of studies and infrastructure requirements that plague many renewable energy projects.

I tried to focus on the the title of the evening. "Biodiesel: What is it? Why is it so great? How can I get it?" We covered chemistry, ASTM specs, emissions, carbon and energy balances, lubrication and oxygenation benefits to the engine, and of course, how to obtain biodiesel. Basically, with the new Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), you need some kind of additive to protect your engine - biodiesel is an excellent one, and B20 blends will run in unmodified diesel engines.

We at Arctic Vegwerks are working with the biofuels community and are expecting to sell ASTM biodiesel this summer, while hoping that local producers are up and running within a year. More on this later.

Furthermore, Arctic Vegwerks is offering a series of classes and seminars on backyard biodiesel this summer. More on this soon.

The evening ended with a great networking session in the foyer, Zane Ulin and crew from Premium Biofuels Alaska were handing out flyers on the BioPro, building off of Anthony Destefano's fleet-scale biodiesel project in Taku that he mention in his talk. Folks from UAA were handing out questionnaires for yet another biodiesel feasibility study, and Mark Goodman from Mill and Feed told me about the skyrocketing market for yellow grease. More on grease prices soon.

Thanks to the folks from "French Fries to Go" and "Greasy Rider" for the films, to all the great people who made this happen, especially Judy Stoll who helped staff the table at the last minute, and a big cheer to the Sierra Club for sponsoring the evening. We'll do it again.

Alaska Biodiesel in the News.

I just caught wind of the January 2008 Biodiesel Magazine article on developing projects across the US. They highlighted the Alaska fish oil projects, and mentioned the grant for a portable fish-oil rendering facility, which I wrote about a few month's back. Looks like I'll have to give up some personal information and get a free subscription.

Also, the Anchorage Daily News published my response (original response here) to the Science magazine studies, which once again pointed out that destroying the rainforest is a bad way to grow oil crops for biofuels.

Veg On!

March 26th - Anchorage Biodiesel Night - Free!

Wednesday March 26th, 7-9pm at the Anchorage Museum, 7th Ave and A St. FREE!

Speakers and films sponsored by the Alaska Biodiesel and SVO Network: a Sierra Club Smart Energy Solution, SEAKsolutions Juneau, and Anchorage Mayor Begich's Office.

Biodiesel: What is it? Why is it so great? Where can I get it?

Join us for an evening with biofuels experts from across the state, and award-winning short documentary films. Tour operators, fleet managers and interested individuals are invited to explore practical options for a sustainable Alaska.

From fish oil and Alaskan Canola crops to local restaurant grease, Alaska's biodiesel and straight vegetable oil systems can displace a significant amount of diesel, save our communities from high fuel prices, reclaim wasted resources and reduce our carbon emissions.

Speakers include Will Taygan, Arctic Vegwerks - Chugiak and Anthony Destefano, SEAKsolutions - Juneau.

Films include the short "French Fries to Go" about Telluride's Granola Ayatollah of Canola, Charris Ford and his restaurant-grease powered Grassolean, and "Greasy Rider" a cross-country voyage powered by waste vegetable oil.

For more information contact the Knik Group Sierra Club at 907-276-4048 or check in with us a www.AlaskaVegoil.org.

How much does an Alaska Vegoil System cost?

Everyone wants to know HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? To run on used vegetable oil, that is. Well, it's really a case of penny wise, pound foolish - or, you get what you pay for. Our systems have bomb-proof components and lots and lots of heat to protect your injection pump in the Alaska winters.

Prices as of Feb 2008 for a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel:

$450 Basic PlantDrive TTVTS kit includes:
    $150 Vegtherm Standard
    $215 VegMax Filter
    $89 1st - 3-port Hydraforce valve (option)
    Assorted wires/connectors/fittings

additional PlantDrive parts:
$89 2nd - 3-port Hydraforce valve
$125 HP-16 Hotplate with 3/8" fittings
$450 Heated 12 Gallon Trekker Poly Tank

other tank options:
    $209 HotFox with $0 existing tank
    $209 HotFox with ~$400 aluminum tank

$1114 + 15% Alaska shipping $167.10

$1281.10 PlantDrive subtotal - this is what we can sell you if you want to do-it-yourself.

$600 (rough estimate) fittings/electrical/hardware/hose/sealant/insulation/etc.

$1821.10 parts subtotal estimate

$650 labor for Alaska Standard install (about 2 1/2 days)

$2471.10 Installed estimate for the bomb-proof 4-season Alaska Standard system.

We can install a no-frills 3-season system for a substantial savings, but we recommend the Alaska Standard for our climate. Deluxe options are available (gauges/controllers/pre-heaters), but our basic components are rock-solid in the standard system.

Shipping discounts may be available for folks picking up at our Chugiak (Anchorage) location, especially if your shipping times are flexible.

Pickup trucks require some higher-flow components and additional labor, and will cost a few hundred dollars more.

Veg On!

Methanol Prices Going UP!

I ran into another biodiesel fella at talk put on by the Alaska Center for Appropriate Technology (who also organize the yearly Bioneers conference) out at Mat-Su College last weekend, he told me that methanol was running over $400 per 55 gallon drum, and that it "almost wasn't worth it" to make biodiesel.

I called around Anchorage, and my usual source at Inlet Petroluem indeed quoted $435, or nearly $8 a gallon for a drum, larger quantities get discount, as usual. My backup supplier, wholesale only, is at Univar, and thankfully they quoted $325.88 for a drum, or around $6 a gallon. This is still way up from the $200 we were paying 2 years ago, or the $250 is was selling for last year.

This equals out to an average of $1.50 in methanol for every gallon of biodiesel made, whew!

It reinforces my intent to setup a methanol recovery system and to try using ethanol instead. I've heard the ethanol process is a bit trickier, since it's a larger molecule, but we can make ethanol at home, right?

Does anyone in Southcentral have a methanol recovery system up and running, or has anyone locally made a successful batch with ethanol? Maybe the Fairbanks coop has taken a shot at these?!

Veg On!

Gasoline and Vegetable Oil Blends

I've had a few phone calls from Alaska folks really really wanting a cheap and easy solution to running vegetable oil. Most recently was a plan to run 90% raw Canola oil, straight from the farmer's press, which would be "treated" with 10% gasoline.

Here's the response I wrote:

Hmmm. It's my belief that if it were cheap and easy everyone would be doing it. My first thoughts are "There's no such thing as a free lunch" and "You get what you pay for."

Blending straight vegetable oil with gasoline (or diesel) and burning it directly in your diesel vehicle should be considered *very* experimental. Of course biodiesel folks often get nervous about running heated SVO, and the 2-tank heated veg folks can get skittish about running those unheated vegoil blends.

The closest I've gotten to blending is the time that I left my vegoil in the injection pump overnight (I forgot to purge). I did get the 81 VW pickup started at about 40 degrees - and it didn't cause any noticeable harm to the system - but it kicked and bucked quite a bit while thick black smoke poured out until it warmed up. I try to avoid running cold oil in a cold engine.

I do know of one guy who runs unheated 100% SVO in a early 80s VW pickup down in Moose Pass (or was it Cooper Landing?). He told me he just ran it in the summer months, and it worked well for him.

For the internet fanatics, "Diesel Secret Energy" is the most famous of the blending "miracles." They add their secret formula (mostly petroleum aromatics similar to paint thinner), some gas and some diesel, whip it up and call it good. The only person I know of in Alaska that bought the stuff, decided after he mixed it up that he wasn't about to put it into his tank.

Blending, however, does happen successfully. Probably the most economically significant Alaskan example is the big WWII era generators out in Dutch Harbor at the Unisea fish plant. There they blend in fish oil, in a 50-50 ratio. Of course those are old, tolerant engines.

As far as passenger vehicles go, all the studies I've read say that unheated vegoil in an unheated engine will cause bad things: ring/cylinder varnishing, injector coking. The older 1980s studies say this happens more with blends above 20% vegetable oil.

If you're planning on running unheated SVO or an unheated blend in an older, more tolerant engine, you just might get away with it. Be sure to test your crankcase oil, or at least change it often, as vegetable oil will polymerize and thicken your motor oil.

Needless to say, I do not recommend running unheated blends. But if you insist, tell us how it goes!

Veg On!

Sustainable Biofuels are Alaska's Best Option.

The Anchorage Daily News reprinted an abbreviated article from the New York Times criticizing biofuels for releasing carbon from the soil when land is converted to Agriculture. This "new" biofuels study is not really new news, and doesn't really apply to the feedstocks we're pursuing in Alaska. But rather a similar argument against tropical Palm biodiesel that we've been hearing for years:

Here's a letter to the editor I sent to the Daily News:

Sustainable Biofuels are Alaska's Best Option.

Your article "Climate may be Harmed by Biofuels" on Friday February 8th ignores Alaska's unique biofuel opportunities. What was missing from the article comes from the Author's own press release:

"Researchers did note that some biofuels do not contribute to climate change because they do not require the conversion of native habitat."

Alaska's biofuels do not destroy native habitat, and I would argue, reduce our impact on climate change.

While the study especially condemns the clearing of tropical lands for agricultural biofuels, Alaska is dumping the equivalent of 13 millions gallons of fish oil and is exporting nearly half a million gallons of used deep fryer oil. In addition to capturing these wasted renewable resources, we need to support the Delta growers planting Canola on existing croplands for fuel to power Alaska's family farms.

Although Alaska biofuels cannot replace all our fossil fuel use, they can displace a significant amount of diesel, save our communities from high fuel prices, reclaim wasted resources, and reduce Alaska's carbon emissions.

They're not a silver bullet, but Alaska biofuels are a part of a sustainable solution.

In fact, the bigwigs at the National Biodiesel Board just announced the formation of a Sustainability Task Force, thanks to the persistent work of folks at the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance and the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit.

The Best SVO Fuel Line Routing Design?

Hah! There's two big debates in routing your fuel lines for a SVO-WVO-Vegoil system. First, to loop or not to loop. Second, to add a vegoil lift lift pump or not. We loop and in general don't add a lift pump.

Not looping your veg return to the veg tank mirrors what most factory diesel system do, which is to return the diesel to the diesel tank. The benefit of a full-return system is that is minimizes diesel use, and purges any air you have in the system, avoiding the most common cause of poor performance and stalling (the other issue being a clogged filter).

Looping, however is what we do. Looping allows a gradual change from cold thin diesel to hot, almost as thin vegoil. It avoids the slug of cold vegoil that is inevitably sitting in the valve and the last few inches of unheated lines that are found in full-return system.

The looped system keeps circulating the heat up front, and allows us to backflush the veg filter with diesel. This backflush primes the supply valve and the few inches of unheated lines with diesel, preventing cold-weather clogging, and minimizing shock to the injection pump. There is no slug of cold vegoil, instead the heated diesel mixes with the vegoil/diesel blend in the purged supply lines, which then loops back again and mixes with the fully heated vegoil. The disadvantage of this system is that it uses a little extra diesel to purge the supply lines and uses the diesel left in the injection pump to blend into the loop.

To summarize: Looping is gentler on your injection pump and has better cold-weather properties. But, it doesn't purge air and it uses a bit more diesel in order to purge and thin the initial slug of vegoil.

Of course, we use a 12v Vegtherm inside the loop, so we can maximize heat gain, and offer a full backflush. The Vegtherm is shut off for diesel driving, so we're not lowering the lubricity of the diesel by unnecessarily heating it. Note that we use a Flat Plate Heat Exchanger (FPHE) on the veg side. Some folks create a longer loop into the FPHE, but that system won't allow a full backflush. Only a 12v heater, of which the Vegtherm is the SVO standard, allows in-loop heating and a full backflush.

Okay second debate: to lift pump or not!

Older VWs do not have separate lift pumps. So no. Older Mercedes do have lift pumps, but the stock diesel filter can be rerouted before the lift pump, so the lift pump can pull from either the veg or the diesel tank, through the respective filter, and then into pump and on to the engine. So no. Fords and Dodges can generally be re-routed as well.

Newer high-pressure systems need a highly-regulated fuel pressure. So in general, yes. The pump that works well is a FASS pump. It's guaranteed for 2 years on vegoil and has a 23 amp motor. This is not your standard pump, it's not even the standard FASS pump. If you're going to be converting a high-pressure (Pumpe-Düse or common-rail/CRD) system you will probably need one of these. An exception is the early Ford Powerstroke HEUI injection systems. In these, the stock filter cannot be rerouted, so Plantdrive.com provides a billet aluminum replacement filter "bypass" plug, and adds additional filters for both the veg and diesel sides. The good news is that you don't need the extra pump.

I've only had one conversion where the owner wanted a cheap lift pump. They were having starting problems, and their mechanic couldn't deal with the fuel line rerouting. We put on the cheapo $50 Solid-State Facet Pump (note: These have largely been replaced with their posi-flo pump). These should be considered disposable, but work. It should be noted that it ended being their glow plug relay, not fuel related at all.

Rerouting the lift pump allows the pump to work as it should, avoiding any chance of it pumping into a blocked valve (deadheading), and is cheaper since you don't need an extra pump. Furthermore, the veg is always flushed from the lift pump, as a separate lift pump needs to be heated, along with the rest of the veg fuel system. The benefit of adding an extra pump is that it keeps your stock system stock, making it easier for mechanic to work on, and provides a fully redundant fuel system.

We believe in robust yet economical vegoil systems. In most cases a looped return and rerouting of the stock lift pump provides the best option for Alaskan winters.

Veg On!

The Almost Qualified Dealer License

Well, today I got a letter from the State of Alaska Department of Revenue. Surprisingly it included an official Qualified Dealer Motor Fuel License. It is unsigned, and under the address section it says "Biodiesel Refining for Personal Use."

Needless to say, I did not apply for a Qualified Dealer (Fuel Distributor) license.

Accompanying the License was a very nice letter from Jamie Taylor at the Department of Revenue. Here's some excerpts:

Enclosed is an Alaska Department of Revenue Motor Fuel License... This has been issued solely as an instrument for filling your Motor Fuel taxes. The license number... should appear in the "Qualified Dealer Number" box on your tax return.

Please note that this license does not enable you to act as a State of Alaska Motor Fuel Qualified Dealer.

Thank you for taking the initiative to report your taxable biodiesel refinement and use.

It's so refreshing to have helpful and reasonable folks at the tax department.

I do have the feeling that this is more for their benefit than mine, but now I can use the electronic payment system, since it requires a dealer number. I'll let you all know how it goes when this month's taxes are due.

Veg On!

SEAKing biodiesel in Juneau.

Biofuels in Alaska is growing in fits and starts.

In Anchorage we've seen the AKPIRG feasibility study happen and then stall, and the WVO biobuilders group has come and gone. There is a small but growing group SVO/biodiesel enthusiasts linked by the Alaska Biodiesel and SVO Network.

Fairbanks has seen the creation of the Fairbanks Biodiesel Cooperative and some really neat WVO-based boilers in use (more on this later).

In Juneau, the Alaska Biofuels Alliance got things started a few years ago, but SEAKsolutions is the mover and shaker at the moment.

An organizing force behind SEAKsolutions is Anthony Destefano. Destefano, a diesel mechanic and biofuels professional is a veteran of the biodiesel-powered around-the-world EarthRace and a SVO-installer with Independent Biofuels.

They had a great write-up in the Juneau Empire, and are currently holding meetings in Juneau to create a biodiesel cooperative, and foster the Southeast Alaska biofuels scene.

Veg On!