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May 11, 2005

NREL says Biodiesel may NOT increase NoX after all!

One of the ongoing issues mentioned with Biodiesel has been a suspected increase in NoX emmissions. Now the NREL says wait a minute. The reality is probably closer to this new study. It is either neutral or better than dino Diesel.

>Biodiesel May Not Increase Nitrogen Oxides Emissions, Doe Lab Finds
>Extensive testing at an energy department laboratory contradicts the
>widely held belief that burning biodiesel produces more nitrogen oxide
>(NOx) emissions than traditional diesel, a top lab official reported
>May 9 at a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) conference in Washington, D.C.
>Air regulators and environmental groups have been slow to embrace
>biodiesel, a renewable fuel that substantially lowers hydrocarbon and
>particulate matter emissions, because of concern over increases in NOx
>emissions, a major contributor to ground-level ozone. Indeed, an
>emissions fact sheet on the website for the national voice of the U.S.
>biodiesel industry, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), states that NOx
>emissions increase by 2 percent for B-20 (a blend of 20 percent
>biodiesel and 80 percent diesel). But the National Renewable Energy
>Laboratory's (NREL) fuels performance manager, Wendy Clark, said that
>after exhaustive testing of biodiesel emissions on two 40-foot urban
>transit buses, NOx emissions were comparable to the buses' diesel-fuel
>emissions. In other words, they found no increase in NOx emissions.
>The dynamometer testing was carried out at NREL's facilities in Golden,
>CO. The tests on two different buses burning B-20 were repeated because
>the initial results were so surprising, Clark told the SAE conference
>participants.
>Clark also suggested the biodiesel market could grow to 125 million
>gallons in 2006, from the less than 30 million gallons used in 2004.
>The number could rise to 1.7 billion gallons by 2015 if the current,
>high diesel prices are sustained, Clark added. In addition to lowering
>PM and hydrocarbon emissions, biodiesel, which is made from vegetable
>oils, also has superior lubricity properties.
>If oil companies embrace biodiesel as a lubricity additive and blend it
>at a 1 percent concentration in ultra-low-sulfur diesel, it could mean
>a 450 million-gallon market. If an energy bill containing a so-called
>renewable fuels mandate becomes law, Clark predicts it would mean as
>much as a 900 million-gallon market. Refiners would be looking for ways
>to meet the renewable fuels mandate without having to invest in new and
>expensive refinery capacity needed to blend ethanol, the only other
>viable renewable fuel. Current fuel ethanol production is approximately
>3.7 billion gallons annually.
>While less than 30 million gallons of biodiesel were consumed last year
>in the U.S., there is production capacity for another 140 million gallons.
>Also, Clark said, there is another 100 million gallons of new plant
>capacity in the development stage, and agricultural processing giant
>and leading U.S. ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland is poised to
>enter the market. They already have two 30 million-gallon biodiesel
>plants in Germany.
>Biodiesel, which can be made from most vegetable oils as well as waste
>cooking oils, is sulfur free and, according to the NBB website, a B-20
>blend reduces hydrocarbon emissions by 20 percent, carbon monoxide
>emissions by 12 percent, and particulate matter emissions by 12 percent.
>Clark said the cost is about 15 cents per gallon more than traditional
>diesel fuel.
>Biodiesel is not without its own set of problems. Engine manufacturers
>are reluctant to allow warranty coverage for anything more than a
>5-percent blend of the renewable fuel. They are concerned biodiesel
>will degrade engine fuel system components. German automaker Volkswagen
>recently announced that its warranties would cover B-5, and officials
>said it was likely the company would extend this to B-20 in the future.
>There have also been challenges in establishing biodiesel
>specifications, and even problems with blending proportions. A recent
>survey by NREL found a significant amount of improper blending, Clark
>said. In many of the samples of B-20 taken from around the U.S., the
>amount of biodiesel was far outside the 18 percent to 22 percent acceptable range.
>There are no established scientific tests used by biodiesel
>distributors to determine biodiesel purity. They "use only visual
>testing, if it looks clear and bright they accept the sample," Clark reported.
>Finally, the energy content of biodiesel is less than that of diesel --
>about 10 percent for neat biodiesel and 2 to 3 percent for B-20.
>
>
>Robb Barnitt
>National Renewable Energy Laboratory
>Golden, CO
>303-275-4489
>robb_barnitt@nrel.gov

Posted by Martin at May 11, 2005 03:35 PM

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Comments

Where did you find this originally?

Mark

Posted by: girl mark at May 27, 2005 12:36 AM

i received this as an e-mail. It was forwarded with the original forwards taken off. I did search through the coverage of the SAE conference at http://www.sae.org/automag/index.htm. I couldn't find this specific comment, but it is probably there. It is my understanding that the study is in progress and not yet completely published.

Posted by: ministeroforder at June 6, 2005 01:06 AM

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