What is the best biodiesel fuel additive to add to your fuel to keep your injectors clean and to improve you economy.

more well-made, quality biodiesel.

I know Liqui moly "diesel purge" will keep your injectors clean.

It is a highly regarded product, usded by Mercedes- Benz. Made in Germany and does actually clean your IP and injectors.

Economy !!! I always thought that we run bio-fuels to improve the economy.

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Fitian
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Two of the best things about biodiesel is that:

1. Biodiesel is biodegradable and
2. Biodiesel is less flammable than most fuels (high flash point).

Oxidation Inhibitor
Biodiesel is biodegradable because it is naturally oxidatively unstable. That means that when exposed to air, biodiesel immediately starts to break into smaller molecules - ones that are more easily digested by microbes in the environment.

The primary feature you should look for in any biodiesel fuel additive is the ability to provide oxidation inhibition. The amount needed is generally 10-50 times more oxidation inhibitor than what is needed for ultra low sulfur diesel refined from petroleum.

For biodiesel producers, oxidation inhibitor should be added before you sell the product to anyone or store it for yourself. This is true even if you meet the minimum Rancimat Oxidation Stability requirement. The reason for this is that oxidation starts as soon as the biodiesel is exposed to air. These additives do not reverse oxidation, they can only inhibit further oxidation, so adding them early means you get maximum benefit from the inhibitor additive. In addition, the products of oxidation catalyze more oxidation, so the older the fuel is, the less effective the chemical inhibitor will be. The products of oxidation cause filter plugging, fuel injector fouling, corrosion and sludge formation in the engine lubricating oil. If you are a biodiesel producer look for and use an oxidation inhibitor in every batch of fuel. There are many good suppliers including Eastman, Nalco, Innospec, Lubrizol and Afton, etc. I can provide additional contact information to producers if you e-mail me.


Biodiesel Volatility
Biodiesel is much less volatile, and therefore less flammable than petroleum diesel. As I said above, this property makes biodiesel safer to use, transport and store. However, low volatility, also means that "fuel blow by" accumulates in the lubricating oil crank case and does not easily evaporate from the crankcase as it does with petroleum diesel. This accumulation of biodiesel is bad for the lube oil. To combat this problem consider the following steps:

* Use a fuel additive that contains a detergent component capable of cleaning fuel injectors and keeping them clean. Proper fuel injection minimizes the chance of "fuel blow by" because if the fuel/air mixture is more efficient, the fuel will burn more completely and there will be less unburned fuel to get exhausted into the crankcase.
* Use a quality detergent lube oil that promises to keep the piston oil and fire rings clean. This means that these rings will not build up deposits and will be able to flex properly. This will minimize wear on the cylinder liners - which again means less "fuel blow by" into the lube oil crankcase. The leading research in this area says that changing lube oil often on biodiesel fueled vehicles is good insurance - so follow the minimum recommended oil change cycles for your vehicle until more is known.

The biodiesel industry leaders, engine manufacturers and fuel additive formulators are just now beginning to understand some of these issues. Marketers such as Power Service, Gold Eagle, Lubrication Engineers and John Deere are beginning to offer leading edge products for biodiesel. Any of them are worth considering and trying in your biodiesel.

These issues have been published and discussed in several ASTM and EN technical papers, Biodiesel Magazine, Biofuel Magazine and Biodiesel International Magazine.

I hope my summary here has been helpful to the forum.

Li'l Phil

PS: Dave Jones is right that there are a lot of "mouse milk" fuel additives out there that have much more money in the bottle design and fancy marketing than they do with good chemistry, but there are also some excellent products on the market as well. Ask lots of questions and try to talk with a technical manager at the company if you can.

PSS: There is nothing available today that will cost effectively improve the cold flow properties of B100 biodiesel made from soy, used cooking oil, and animal fat feedstock. However, any of these feed stocks will produce good winter flow biodiesel when blended to B-20 and lower. Cold flow improvers (anti-gels) work great in these B20 and lower fuels, but you need to add a lot of anti-gel and it must be added when the fuel is 15-20 Deg F above the cloud point of the biodiesel portion. This is an area that needs lots of study.

I've used liqui moly and found it quite good, however I put 500ml of automatic gear oil in my starter tank for SVO each oil change and 500ml in my BD running ute tank. I find it really cleans the injectors out, my HJ60 cruiser has done more than 500000 and over 200000 on SVO, without an engine rebuild, but it's about time. The ute has done about 26000 on BD since it's engine rebuild and has no problems any more, each second oil change I use an engine flush. A mate has tried many things, including using UEO as a thinner in BD for winter down here and SVO, hoping it would also clean his injectors. It made no difference, but the fuel system turned black. He now blends his UEO with SVO in his generator and traps the exhaust junk in a water trap. Its gets rid of his supply of used oil he gets from all his machinery, it's amazing the amount of solids that come out of exhausts.