B100 Winterization

Don, one of our dedicated Piedmont Biofuels coop members and active board members has
been pursuing the holy grail of B100 winterization.
Here is his report on his latest cold weather biodiesel tests, called the "Freeze Off:"

BioDiesel Cold Weather Test - Round 1
26 November 2005

I have completed the first round of BioDiesel freeze testing. I used four 12 oz samples pumped from the bottom of the 500-gallon Tami tank.

The contenders:

B100
2% Kerosene
Power Service Diesel Fuel Supplement (DSF)
ISO-HEET

Sample Preparation:

The fuel was pumped from the bottom of the Tami (500 gallon) tank using the 12v pump with the filter removed. The fuel was shaken to ensure uniform solution and then 12 oz was poured into each of 4 jars. I started the cold weather experiment at about 10 PM on November 25, 2005. All of the samples had a small layer of white solids that had settled to the bottom from being out in the cold all day. I placed the 4 jars in a hot water bath that raised the fuel temperature to about 84 degrees. At this point, all of the solids had gone back into solution and all samples were translucent.

Test samples:

1) B100 12 oz B100
2) 2% kerosene 12 oz B100, 7.1 ml kerosene
3) DSF 12 oz B100, 0.9 ml DSF
4) ISO-HEET 12 oz B100, 1.7 ml ISO-HEET

The DSF and ISO-HEET were mixed at the ratio recommended on the packaging. DSF is recommended at 32 oz / 100 gallon. ISO-HEET recommends 12 oz / 20 gallons.

Test Process:

10:40 PM: I placed the samples on the front porch. The fuel samples were at 80 degrees and the outside temperature was 32 degrees.

1:00 AM: I checked on the samples. All samples were still clear with no signs of solids. The fluid temperature had dropped to about 45 degrees and the outside temp was 29 degrees.
7:30 AM: I checked the samples again (before the sun reached the samples).

The Results:

In last place: B100 frozen to an opaque solid.

In a tie for second place: 2% kerosene and ISO-HEET. The fuel was opaque with an orange juice appearance. A layer of ice about 1/8" thick had formed on the inside walls of the jar.

And the winner is: The Power Service Diesel Fuel Supplement fuel was about 50% translucent fuel and about 50% opaque cloud floating in the fuel. No ice crystals formed on the jar walls

8:00 AM: I checked the samples again. The sun may have reached the sample on the right (ISO-HEET) first, I am not certain. Temperature reading was 40 degrees. This may be artificially high due to the radiant heat on the gauge.

B100: Some clear fuel is forming at the bottom of the jar. Most fuel is still frozen solid.
2% Kerosene: Ice formation on walls of jar is gone. Lots of ice crystals floating throughout the fuel solution.
DSF: Fuel has cleared up. Completely translucent.
ISO-Heet: Fuel is almost completely translucent. Some small crystals dispersed through the fluid.

8:15 AM: Outside temp 43 degrees, fuel temperature 48 degrees.
B100: 50% translucent fuel and 50% ice cube.
All others are completely translucent at this time.

8:30 AM: Outside temp 45 degrees (accuracy?) and all samples clear. The radiant solar energy had a significant impact on clearing up the fuels. Remember previously samples weren't completely clear even at 66 degrees the night before.

Conclusion:
In my opinion the Power Service Diesel Fuel additive was the clear winner of this test. It had the best cold weather results and required the least amount of substance to be added to the BioDiesel.

Recommendations:

* Add 1 gallon of DSF to the 400 gallons of BioDiesel in the Tami tank.
* Increase the percentage of kerosene in a future test to 10% to see if it will perform similar to the DSF.
* Obtain Power Service Arctic Freeze BioDiesel Antigel additive to see how it compares with these other additives.
* Let fuel samples slowly warm up without direct sunlight during round 2 testing.

Posted by rachel at December 3, 2005 12:14 PM