Is Biowillie misleading customers?
The video above shows Wilson Nelson, the face of Biowillie, saying truckers tell him they get better mileage with biodiesel. I have seen him say the same thing many times about Biowillie. I have heard the owner say the same thing as well. I just finished Willie's book, On the Clean Road Again where he mentions higher mileage several times. Ethanol's disadvantages are mentioned, but not energy content. Biodiesel has less energy content and this means lower mileage than regular diesel. Are those truckers wrong?
There are two types of diesel. B20, 20 percent biodiesel blend, is 2-3 percent less efficient than petrodiesel number 1. Diesel number 2 actually has a difference of 1-2 percent. There is a difference of 8 percent with B100 when compared with petrodiesel. Energy content is the only real determinator of fuel efficiency. So what might the truckers be seeing? Biodiesel's energy content can vary with feedstock. Diesel energy content can vary up to 15 percent depending on the provider and time of year. So it's very possible these truckers used petrodiesel that had much less energy content.
Biodiesel has a higher cetane rating. So there is a performance and lubrication improvement when using biodiesel. It's possible to improve mileage when you improve things like octance. It's well known that many older cars get better mileage with fuel additives. Performance improvement may also help more fuel efficient types of driving. So, there probably are truckers out there telling Willie they get better mileage and they are getting better mileage for sound technical reasons. I have never seen him say energy content is higher, just truckers tell him they get better mileage. So I don't think he has done anything legally wrong but I really think this needs further study. I doubt a large percent of truckers get higher mileage using biodiesel. Sorry, Willie.
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ken 6:38PM (6/23/2008)
I can not speak for Biowillie's product, but I most certainly can speak for the detrimental effect of ULSD. We have multiple diesel vehicles which include a Mercedes 300SD 5 cylinder turbodiesel and a Ford F-550 with a 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel. The Mercedes on the open highway averaged about 28-30 miles per gallon on the old diesel and the mileage dropped to 24-26mpg with the newer reformulated fuel. The Ford F-550 solo lost about 2mpg. The problem is under load the F-550 dropped by about 4.5mpg. Why is it that every time we clean the air we lose fuel mileage, it makes me really wonder about the honesty of the whole thing. I had the same experience in California with a Gasoline Chevy truck as we transitioned from Unleaded fuel to an MTBE additive to part alcohol. On that air cleaning experience we went progressively from 12.5mpg to 7.5. I am hopefull that all of the pitfalls of biodiesel will be resolved because it IS a renewable resource with a lower pollution level.
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rgseidl 5:37PM (8/27/2007)
I'd take assertions of improved mileage due to biodiesel with a large grain of salt, for the energy density reasons given in the article. Truckers do care mostly about fuel cost per mile, though, so I understand why the company would try to market their product that way.
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G-Daddy 5:44PM (8/27/2007)
This IS Willie Nelson you're talking about...could be his definition of "higher" mileage is different than the one we're familiar with.
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mike 6:09PM (8/27/2007)
Maybe the guys selling Bio-Diesel aren't adding water to it?
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AMcA 9:41PM (8/27/2007)
I bet people who buy a product that they think is going to get them better mileage drive more carefully. And then they get better mileage.
Neat. I love a self-fulfilling prophesy.
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slg18 11:33PM (8/27/2007)
The energy content of B100 is close to that of petrodiesel. Lubricity of Biodiesel is higher than ULSD = less engine wear. (slightly better mileage?)Biodiesel is an oxygenated fuel and a blend such as B20 burns more completely than petro diesel. Studies have shown that power under load and stop and go mileage increase (think garbage trucks and city buses) with B20. Not as much increase for highway driving.
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Lascelles 8:59AM (8/28/2007)
Slg18, which studies exactly? I would update the article if I am given more info. As I said, I wish there were more studies done but I could not find them.
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Shaun 11:49AM (8/28/2007)
When I started using B20 in my TDI bug I got 3-5 MPG when I had been before. It could have just been from a higher quality control in the B20 production line I guess.
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bioburner 11:01AM (8/29/2007)
Biodiesel heat content is about the same as ULSD. Removing the sulfur bearing compounds from the diesel fuel also reduced the heat content of the petrolum based fuels. Most people I know lost a few MPG after the government mandated ULSD fuel hit the makret. However biodiesel does has a much higher autoignition temperature which at least in a direct injection engine will lead to more ignition delay and allows for better mixing of the air/fuel charge. Since the fuel is semi self oxiginating the fuel burns more completely (cleaner) thus releasing more heat.
Using the high sulphur no. 2 I have noticed the best fuel economy with a 50/50 blend of bio and Dinodiesel. With the new ULSD fuel I have noticed a slight imrovement in fuel economy with bio over dinodiesel.
In a 50 MPG car you can see the difference but in a tractor trailer that gets a few miles per gallon i would not expect to see any difference between biodiesel and dinodiesel.
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steve 4:45PM (9/30/2007)
I am trucker , I own my own trucking company. let me say this I get better mpg and performance out of biodiesel by .4 tens of mpg which equals to300-575 more money in my pocket.I will explain when usld hit the market my fuel cost almost doubled . It cost more to buy ,and less refing to make. It lacks sulphur and sulpher is what lubricates the injectors and the injectors cups causing them to operate more efficiently in turn b20 provides the lubicration that is needed to provide the performance of lsd.my truck gets 5-6.1 mpg cars put off more pollutants than trucks and they are a whole lot more of them. what about rail road why dont they have to conform.and I would give some money to a farmer than a towel head
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slg18 1:50PM (12/23/2007)
Studies showing higher mileage on B20.
http://www.biofleet.net/Biodiesel%20Demonstrations/Vibes_final_report.pdf
Pages 33-35.Not as conclusive as I'd like.
Sorry for the delay, this is not the study I had in mind. The EPA did tests on Garbage trucks in the Midwest, showing that mileage increased with B20, but I switched computers, links etc. and can't find it.
It is interesting to note that the introduction of ULSD reduced mileage and increased engine wear. I had to replace an injector pump on my TDI Jetta within a month of the switchover, co-incidence, probably.
SLG
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Wklopf 12:07PM (1/16/2008)
I'm a retired chemist. In the 1980s I prepared a series of pure fatty acid esters (components of biodiesel) and had them tested for cetane number, as well as teaming up with an engineer to determine efficiencies of combustion. This involved calculating the energy content of the fuel being burned and the work energy generated by the engine. In all cases the esters had a higher percentage of their energy converted to work in the engine than was the case with the #2 diesel. If necessary I will dig out the paper where these results were reported. The differences were about enough to make up for the lower energy content of these fuels.
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