biodiesel « Banks Blog - diesel performance

Greener than green or bio-shocked

by John Espino

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

There are certain moments that you remember from your youthful days that are so vivid that you can actually recall every detail of that point in time: what you were wearing, what something smelled like, etc. These events can be good, bad, important or just plain trivial. As for me I have many of those “scrapbook” memories taking up valuable space on the hard drive in my head, but one especially stands out in this day and age that we’re in.

black star I remember it was a Saturday morning in 1980 (queue the wavy video, go out of focus and play the harp music) and I was watching the rather horrible cartoon called “Blackstar” on the local CBS affiliate. Back in those good ‘ol days the television stations did their best to try to cram in a little education on Saturday mornings along with toy and cereal commercials that weren’t afraid of letting parents and children know that it was fortified with sugar, coated with sugar and had a magnificent prize in each box… which also was laced with sugar. They had a five minute bit (with no songs… unlike School House Rock on ABC) that ran during the commercial breaks called “In The News”. Although these were on multiple times during my cartoon worship time there was one that really caught my attention. The fuel problems, or simply the lack of said fuel, were still pretty fresh in my little fertile mind. I remember well the days of odd and even, long lines where you could sit for hours waiting your turn to fuel up, and green and red flags signaling if there was fuel or not at the pump.

1973 gas crunch

It wasn’t like months back where fuel was too damn expensive because people are guessing how much it’ll cost in the future (stupid!)… there just simply wasn’t enough. So when the reporter came on the air and said that there was a way to make fuel out of algae he had my full attention. What sounded like pure sci-fi was just so simple in all reality. I remember the report showing that massive amounts of algae could be grown and harvested extremely fast and when compressed (squished) it yielded an oil that could be used as a fuel. He didn’t say it, but he was talking about bio-diesel. One day soon… we would grow our own fuel, it would be cheap and we wouldn’t have to rely on any outside sources. We can start to plan the party and tell everyone to kiss off! Our days of oil dependency were almost at an end!

Check your calendars folks… it’s now the futuristic year of 2009 and we still don’t have that “green” fuel I was promised. It seemed so easy and the right thing to do, but just like the astro-base we were supposed to have on the moon (still a very bitter subject for me) it never came to be.

Yeah, that five minute deal made quite an impression on ‘lil Johnny to say the least. For a while there I remember talking about this great innovation that was coming soon to anyone who’d listen, but I couldn’t find any information on the subject anywhere. So I went to work at the local library (remember… this was in the ’80s and Al Gore hadn’t created the Internet yet) trying to find out about renewable fuels… and mind you I was ten. “Renewable fuels, what is that?” they’d ask. So frustrating! Anyway, when it was time for the science fair at my school I knew what I was going to be doing an exhibit on. The result of my report and display was taken as if I was a being from the future. Puzzled, teachers asked me for more information. I followed this project up the next year with my plant that screamed when you touched it (and registered that touch and the pressure of it on an oscilloscope, but that’s another story). Needless to say I got labeled as one of those “smart kids“, which didn’t do much for the ‘ol social life.

But yet I digress… let’s get back to the subject of bio-fuels, shall we?

These kinds of alternate fuel ideas are still around and have been explored more, but almost in secret as the general public doesn’t seem to be really aware of them. Posted below are some links worth checking out, like the reintroduction of the algae fuel (hell yeah!) and little microbes that eat trash… and poop out fuel. So whether it’s running microbe poop in the tank or stopping the pool man from cleaning up your next stash of fuel, our future can be green and clean. Now all we have to do is develop these technologies more… and stop the folks from guessing the cost of our current fuel so that we can get where we need to be: a crappy and slimy.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/11/04/microbe-fuel.html

Report on microbes and fungus fuel

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/09/14/dartmouth-researchers-create-new-ethanol-producing-bacteria/

Ethanol-producing bacteria

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/02/cellulosic-ethanol-could-get-a-boost-from-a-sea-grub/

Lil sea trash eaters

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/24/ohio-state-university-fuel-cells-use-cow-power-or-puke-for-po/

Cow barf power?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4133668.ece#comments-form

Microbe Poop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbLACcUN4fQ

I think the reporter said something about algae fuel in this piece… but for some reason I was distracted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i82CXQX4yq4

Why couldn’t I find this stuff when I was 10?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxNeBQCRv1c

Algae jet fuel?

More »

Tags: bio-diesel, biodiesel, green fuel
Posted in Alternative Fuels, biodiesel | No Comments »

High School Biodiesel Brain Power

by Gale Banks

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005

There are lots of articles being written about “home-brewed” biodiesel today but I’ve felt that most of these backyard projects getting ink are the automotive equivalent of brewing moonshine. I say this, because while the end result is probably combustible in a diesel engine, the biodiesel fuel produced is not refined and finished to any known standard.

Here’s a project worth mentioning for a variety of reasons. Technology Teacher, Michael Winters, at San Gabriel, California’s Gabrielino High School’s Tongva Technology Center began an Eco-Fuel Research Project five years ago to educate his students on the benefits of alternative fuels.

Most importantly, the project is being performed in a scientific manner with full recognition that when each sample of biodiesel fuel is complete, a fuel refined to the current ASTM standard is the result.

After designing, building and learning from their three original batch processing machines (1 liter, 14 gallon and 150 gallon), the students will soon build ten 1-liter batch processing units that will go out on loan to other science classrooms throughout the state of California.

The Eco-Fuel Research Project also has a social purpose and that is to make the students aware of energy-driven emissions and, most importantly, the impact diesel can have on improving these areas.

Finally, if we’re really lucky, their college education may be influenced and perhaps as an end result we’ll have some enlightened pro-diesel college engineering graduates 4-5-years from now.

Gale Banks Engineering is continually investing in the education of individuals necessary to support the growth and service of the burgeoning light-duty diesel marketplace in the United States. We call upon our peers within our industry to join with us in our support.

Gale Banks Engineering recently hosted Gabrielino High School’s demonstration of the manufacture of biodiesel fuel from soybeans using its 1-liter batch processing machine (shown). Left to right: Brian DuVardo (graduated; Citrus College student), Michael Winters (Technology Teacher) Adam Arce (Senior), Leneve Ong, (graduated; U.C. Berkeley student), Malcolm McLaren (Senior), Colleen Tan (Senior), Gale Banks, Losmeiya Huang (Senior)

More »

Tags: biodiesel
Posted in Banks Diesel Power | No Comments »

Pay the Piper…or Hire Another Band

by CJ Baker

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

Just the other day, I was fueling my vehicle at a service station. While I was there, the station attendant emerged with a handful of numbers to change the posted fuel prices. He didn’t change the gasoline prices, only the #2 diesel. It went up 4 cents per gallon. At that station, #2 diesel was then selling for 6 cents a gallon more than 91-octane premium gasoline, and 22 cents a gallon more than 87-octane regular gasoline. I remember thinking, that’s nuts!

Of course, with diesels typically getting 20 to 40 percent better fuel economy than similar gasoline engine vehicles, a diesel still operates more economically, but where is all this headed? Why are diesel fuel prices outpacing gasoline? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t the state governments be reducing fuel taxes on the more fuel-efficient diesels? And isn’t the current price of diesel fuel getting high enough to make alternate sources of diesel fuel, such as biodiesel ( http://www.bankspower.com/techarticles/show/18-The-Biodiesel-Alternative), and synthetic diesel ( http://www.bankspower.com/techarticles/show/19-Synthetic-Diesel-Fuel ) more feasible and attractive? And isn’t it time for legislators at all levels to get their heads out the sand and learn about the advantages and efficiencies of modern light-duty diesels? I think so.

Just a few short months ago, diesel fuel prices were typically between the price of 87-octane gasoline and 89-octane middle grade gas. Go back a little further and diesel was cheaper than regular gasoline. So while most people have been worrying about the increase in gasoline prices, diesel prices have been climbing even faster. I have read that this is due in part to an increased demand for diesel fuel in China. Do we export diesel fuel to China? I hope not. And if we are exporting diesel fuel, should we be? Or is it simply that the oil companies are refining fewer gallons of diesel from each barrel of crude? After all, with diesel fuel prices going up, truckers have no alternative but to pass along the increases as higher freight prices, and that drives up the price of virtually everything that moves by truck. Have you thought about that?

Maybe what I saw happening was that service station attendant raising the price of every loaf of bread and every gallon of milk in America. Now that’s scary.