Scania Supports B100 in its Trucks
31 May 2006
After completing long-term tests, Scania, the Swedish manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks and buses, is now guaranteeing operating reliability for 100% biodiesel (B100) for all its trucks with engines featuring unit injectors.
This means that most Scania trucks built during the past eight years—more than 300,000 vehicles—are officially capable of using unblended biodiesel fuels that meet the European standard EN14214 for fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) fuels. Scania tested with rapeseed methyl ester (RME), the prevalent biodiesel fuel in Europe at this point.
Compared with petroleum diesel, RME has a somewhat lower energy content, which in turn means slightly higher fuel consumption and lower engine power output. Scania’s own field and laboratory tests show that RME has somewhat higher emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), while emissions of carbon monoxide and soot particles are lower than for diesel.
The biggest obstacle for RME, according to Scania, appears to be that rapeseed cultivation capacity is insufficient to cover the transport industry’s considerable needs.
Calculations in Europe show that utilization of all land available for rapeseed cultivation within the EU would result in fuel production to meet no more than 10-15 percent of the demand for commercial vehicle fuel requirements.
From the Swedish viewpoint, it is therefore highly positive that the government has set a target for permitting a 3-percent blend of RME in diesel fuel, and in the longer term to increase this to 5 percent, which is standard practice in Europe.
—Jonas Hofstedt, Scania’s engine development manager
Since RME has higher viscosity and greater density than diesel fuel, Scania is suggesting more frequent oil-change intervals to ensure that the engine oil does not become diluted.
As an alternative to running on 100-percent RME, Scania had already previously guaranteed operating reliability with RME blends of up to 5 percent in regular diesel fuel meeting the EN590 standard.
Rapeseed oil: 100 gallons per acre per year.
Algae oil: 10,000 gallons per acre per year.
There are many other oil options other than algae that yield far more per acre per year than rapeseed, such as biomass to liquid etc. No problem running the entire transportation network on home grown fuels.
Posted by: clett | 31 May 2006 at 07:22 AM
If biodiesel from algae is so good, why isn't anyone doing it? I suspect that all the cost calculations are lies, because otherwise the first company to produce BD by algae would be instant multi-billionares.
Posted by: Sid Hoffman | 31 May 2006 at 09:01 AM
Well Sid, the first large scale algal biodiesel operation just went online in New Zealand. Check out http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=44928 to read more of the 'lies' you espouse. Microorganisms are the future of energy. W00t!
Posted by: Max Silver | 31 May 2006 at 09:56 AM
There are several startups in the US now trying to get algae growing commercially, but are still at the R&D phase. As for cost calculations, the US government decided from its Aquatic Species program that biodiesel from algae would cost about twice that of normal diesel, so canned the project. Since then of course, the price of crude has gone up by much more than that, and the companies soon to be making ABD reckon they can do it much more economically than those early researchers managed.
Posted by: clett | 31 May 2006 at 09:57 AM
Can anyone inform me what is the selling price of Biodiesel B100 in Europe now?
Thank you and appreciate your help.
Posted by: Liew Shan Sern | 31 July 2007 at 03:07 AM