Bio Diesel in boats?

[rearcommodore Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close rearcommodore]

Has anyone had any experience running bio diesel in a marine enviroment?
Have two volvo penta turbo diesels 85 vintage. Would I have to change seals etc? Thanks in advance

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Hi - glad you've found your way in here

I'm not a boat user, but I can tell you that biodiesel is absolutely perfect for a marine environment. Not only will your engines love it (quieter, smoother and more power in the low revs), but when you spill it in the water it biodegrades as quickly as sugar does and the fish eat it, rather than get choked by it as they do with distillate. Additionally, you won't get that horrible mineral diesel smell and the gritty feeling on your hands when you handle it.

As for your engines - any diesel engine will run biodiesel unmodified. Having said this, there are a few things to look out for. Older engines may have used components in the fuel system (hoses seals etc) made from nitrile rubber. These components were fine for diesel in the old days when it had a very high sulphur content, but since they have introduced ULSD, this has been a problem for this material, which shrinks, cracks/goes brittle. Biodiesel has the opposite effect, making it swell and go soft. Read this thread here for more info on this subject. Newer (since the mid 90s) engines use synthetic components such as viton which do not suffer any degredation from any of the newer fuels. Having said that, there are many people who are using biodiesel and have gone many months or even years with some soft hoses, but never needed to change them (I've only heard this anecdotally, so don't hold me to it). If you wanted to run biodiesel through your engines a few times, I'd doubt that any old nitril rubber components would give you any grief from just a few doses, it would take some time to have any effect. You may even find that leaking seals that have been shrunk by ULSD can be "unshrunk" to not leak again by using biodiesel.
The next issue to consider is an easy one - fuel filters. All the gunk and sludge that will line the bottom of your tanks and fuel lines will be cleaned out, as biodiesel is an excellent solvent. Mineral diesel is well known to leave sludgy deposits and biodiesel is well known to clean it out. Where does this gunk go? Your fuel filter - where it belongs. Usually, I'd guess you'd have decent filters/water traps in a boat, perhaps even a pre-filter or two. As long as you have some spare filters ready, you'll have a great way to clean out your fuel system.

The last problem is where do you get the stuff???

Good question. Currently I only know of Waterway constructions in Rozelle who have been using biodiesel for years in all their machinery and also supplying Sydney Ferries during their biodiesel trial. They love biodiesel as they once spilled 50L of mineral diesel in the water and faced an enourmous clean up bill. They don't need to worry about biodiesel at all in this respect.
You could try contacting them - here's Rick's profile.

Otherwise, I've recently been chatting with a dude who was looking at supplying Mariners around Sydney with biodiesel, but this may take a while to get off the ground.

I hope that gets you some confidence to investigate it further as I reckon Marine is one of the most perfect markets for biodiesel and I'd love to see a decent scene take off in this area.

If anyone else has any more useful info for rearcommodore, please post

[rearcommodore Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close rearcommodore]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Hi Robert thanks for your reply. Iwent to Sydney for a bio diesel conference a few years back and we visited the Waterways site for a look at their set up. This was before the ATO began their excise thing.
Due to bad navigation I missed a trip north of Sydney to the plant that was building a pilot operation to supply Waterways.
We are looking to start building our processor here in Melbourne this weekend. We have a variety of tanks ,pipes, valves and pumps just a few disagreements on the design.
We are situated on an island in Melbourne and diesel spillage is of constant concern to us.We hope this enables us to be proactive in our local community in regards the enviroment. Shall advise on our progress next week. I think an extra set of fuel filkters will definately be in order.
Cheers Bob/rear commodore

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Hi Bob,

Well, it sounds like you've already got a good background then and you are on the right track. That pilot plant that you missed seeing is now in full churn and is run by ABG.
If you want a local hand in Melbourne with advice on building your plant - you should check in with the Melbourne Biodiesel Club.

[Peter Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Peter]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Hi Bob,

My interest in this forum is based on owning a Catalina 310 yacht fitted with a Universal M-25XP diesel engine, launched in May 2000. I have been gradually increasing the blend of bio diesel to the current level of 50%, which is were it will stay until I can find a reasonably priced local retail supplier of B100. Rutherford is a too bit far away!

I have noticed the engine is easier to start, it runs more smoothly, and that horrible exhaust smell has gone. As the engine had only done 200+ hours at the time I introduced bio, I did not expect too much in the way of gunk from the bottom of the fuel tank. I replaced the fuel filter a couple of months ago and it is still crystal clear.

Robert has covered the points to watch out for, so I say go for it!

[rearcommodore Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close rearcommodore]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Hi Peter thanks for your info.The tanks are sure to have a large amount of gunk in them as I recently did a long trip and got to the very last drops of fuel and found I needed to change the fuel filters.
We started to build the frame and set the tanks upon them. Modest amount of progress but we had some madman drive his car into the creek and what with the police,SES etc we were distracted for some time.
Spent today buying isopropyl and sourcing pipettes and jars etc. Wondered whether to buy a ph meter or just stick to litmus paper.
Oil has started to appear as people are delivering 20lt drums from their favorite restaurants!!!.
Cart before the horse but never mind. Will make a few test batches later this week and try to show the photo's.
Cheers Bob/rearcommodore

[Captain Echidna Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Captain Echidna]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Tumeric has been used as an indicator, and is cheap. Search the forum and you will find it.

[hgale Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close hgale]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Hey all. I am just finishing off building a 36 foot alluminium yacht with a brand new Nanni Diesel. I would love to run this from new on Biodiesel so the info you have listed here is very interesting to me.

I am also keen for any help on the Gold Coast to construct a small processing plant to supply boaties.

I have a source of used fryer oil from a fish and chip shop - just need to build a processing plant that is easy to run and cost effective to build.

Any pointers to either a good set of plans and/or a comercially available small to medium scale set up would be apreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Hamish

[Biofuelnz Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close Biofuelnz]

Re: Bio Diesel in boats?

Try here - http://www.biodiesel.org/markets/mar/
some good info and details you could use in pushing the BD line - especially the eco front - spillage etc