News and information about Biodiesel & alternative fuels.

2004/03/23

More on Biodiesel in Tennessee

Following up from an earlier post, The Daily Times of Maryville, TN is again reporting on local biodiesel use:
"The Blount County Highway Department, as well as the cities of Maryville and Alcoa, recently began using biodiesel in their truck fleets, said county road superintendent Bill Dunlap."

"The price for biodiesel is about 10- to 15-cents a gallon more than what the department is now paying for standard diesel fuel, he said. Right now the county highway department pays $1.05 cents per gallon for diesel."
The $0.20 tax reduction mentioned in my previous post would apparently offset that price difference (though here in the SF Bay Area we'd need a bit more than 20-cents [more like 40-60] to offset the added cost). A bit more from the article:
"It's a clean burning fuel, said Hunt. Locally drivers have reported less smoke or 'soot' from trucks. Drivers for the Knoxville Area Transit, which has been using biodiesel, reported fewer headaches because of the reduction in fumes, said Hunt."

"In 1895, Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed the diesel engine with the intention of running it on a variety of fuels, including vegetable oil... Since then, the diesel engine has been modified to run on petroleum-derived fuel because historically it was the least expensive fuel available, according to the EPA."
The article also includes some emissions statistics from an EPA report on biodiesel (72k pdf), comparing B20 (20/80 biodiesel/diesel) and B100 (100% biodiesel):
  • Reductions in carbon monoxide emissions of 10 percent (B-20) and 50 percent (B-100).
  • Reductions in particulate emissions of 15 percent (B-20) and 70 percent (B-100).
  • Reductions in total hydrocarbon emissions of 10 percent (B-20) and 40 percent (B-100).
  • Reductions in sulfate emissions of 20 percent (B-20) and 100 percent (B-100).
  • Reductions in nitrogen oxide emissions of two percent (B-20) and nine percent (B-100).