Engines and Vehicles Used for Biodiesel Testing
By Joe Thompson, Biodiesel Lab Manager, University of Idaho National Biodiesel Education Program
For over 30 years, the University of Idaho has experimented with triglyceride-based fuel, including many years of engine testing, both on test stands and in vehicles, with biodiesel, straight vegetable oil, and a variety of blends with petrodiesel. During the 1980s and 1990s on-road testing, each time biodiesel was tested in a vehicle, the engine was provided to the engine manufacturer for inspection. The goal was to prove to engine manufacturers that biodiesel would not harm their engines, and to convince them to warrantee their engines to run on biodiesel. Here is a summary of our work with engines and vehicles.
Will a Tractor Run on Straight Vegetable Oil?
In 1979, in response to the petroleum shortages of the 1970s, University of Idaho professor Chuck Peterson experimented with using vegetable oil to run a Ford tractor. Although the tractor ran well for a while on the vegetable oil, the engine eventually got carboned up, the rings stuck, it lost compression, and quit running after several months of no or low load operation. Peterson then began researching ways to lower the viscosity of the oil. The University of Idaho Chemical Engineering department helped Peterson create a recipe for the product that is now termed “biodiesel.”
Lab Testing of Biodiesel
Several types of engines were tested in the lab from 1982 through 1992. Initially we had Wisconsin 2-cylinder air cooled diesels. Then we went to Kubota indirect injected 3-cylinder engines, and finally Yanmar direct injected 3-cylinder engines. These engines were tested on 100% diesel fuel, a 50-50 blend of vegetable oil and diesel fuel, 100% biodiesel (B100), and a 50-50 blend of biodiesel and petro-diesel (B50). We also ran the Yanmars on a 10% fish oil blend. The engines were dismantled and inspected in-house. The engines running biodiesel were always cleaner looking on the inside than the engines running 100% diesel fuel. There was generally more carbon build-up in the engines that ran on vegetable oil. We did a pre and post weighing of the rings, bearings and valves to gauge wear differences between engines running on different fuels, but they were never statistically significant. The rubber fuel lines in the engines running on biodiesel eventually got soft and started to seep fuel because of the good solvent properties of biodiesel, and had to be replaced occasionally. Today you can buy biodiesel resistant fuel lines.
On-Board Biodiesel Mixing Tanks
In 1992 a senior design project by Daryl Reece and his team, involving the design of an on-board mixing tank, evolved into Reece’s master’s thesis when he mounted the tanks on a 1992 Ford F250 and a Dodge Ram of the same year. The Ford had an indirect-injection Navistar 6.4 liter V8 engine and was tested on a blend of 80% diesel and 20% rapeseed oil. After running for 100,000 miles on this fuel, the engine was pulled out and sent to a Navistar plant, where it was dismantled and inspected. No unusual wear was found in the engine. Because this was an indirect-injection engine, it was more tolerant of off-spec fuel that included some straight vegetable oil. The engine was returned to us and the vehicle was put back into service.
The Dodge was equipped with a direct-injected Cummins 5.9 liter turbo-charged engine and ran on B20 for 100,000 miles. Gerald Fleishman and John Crockett of the Idaho Division of Water Resources were in charge of driving the vehicle, keeping records, and promoting biodiesel in the Boise area. The engine was sent to Cummins in Columbus, Indiana for inspection. No adverse effects were found from the fuel. Again this vehicle was put back into service and is being used today to haul waste vegetable oil from a University of Idaho food service site to be converted to biodiesel.
Biodiesel Goes to Washington, DC
Peterson and Reece drove a 1994 Dodge with a 6 cylinder, 5.9 liter Cummins engine on a coast-to-coast trip, from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and back to Idaho. The truck carried on board the entire 320 gallons of B100 needed for the trip. This was the first time that a vehicle fueled entirely by biodiesel (B100) had made a coast-to-coast trip. In Washington, DC, Peterson and Reece met with legislators to educate them about biodiesel. After many more trips totaling 100,000 miles on B100, a Cummins engineer inspected the engine. Although a light rust coating was found in the injection pump (probably due to the fact that biodiesel absorbs more water than petro-diesel), no other adverse fuel-related effects were found. This vehicle remains in service as part of our motor pool.
Biodiesel in Yellowstone National Park
Biodiesel was introduced into Yellowstone national park in 1995. At the time it was felt that even though it was more expensive, biodiesel should be used in environmentally sensitive areas. A Dodge 4WD truck with a 5.9 liter turbo-charged Cummins engine running on B100 was used to kick off the project. Park ranger and environmental manager Jim Evanoff drove the truck year-round. It was equipped with heated fuel lines and filter, as well as a heated 300-gallon fuel tank in the bed. The University of Idaho made and delivered the fuel for this truck for the first two years of the project. Evanoff kept records and spoke about his experience with the fuel at meetings and conferences. He was presented with the “Eye on Biodiesel” inspiration award at the 2006 National Biodiesel Conference for his advocacy. Howard Haines of the Montana Bioenergy Program was also involved with this project and managed the funding from Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the US Department of Energy.
Yellowstone was the first national park to use biodiesel. It was well received by park personnel and by many of the visitors who toured the park. In 1997, Yellowstone conducted a B20 trial in their garbage trucks and within a few years, the park decided to use B20 for all their vehicles, including tour buses and snow removal equipment. Influenced by Yellowstone's successful experience, many national parks now use biodiesel blends in their fleets.
As for the ’95 Dodge: after 100K miles and engine tear down, it was returned to service running on B100 till 2012, when it was retired and placed in the Yellowstone museum.
Biodiesel Made from Used French Fry Oil
From 1997 to 1999 J.R. Simplot, an Idaho-based agriculture and food company, ran a Kenworth truck with a Caterpillar engine for 200,000 miles on a B50 blend of hydrogenated soy ethyl ester (HySEE) made from Simplot’s used French fry oil. The ethanol used in the reaction was made from potato waste at Simplot’s ethanol plant. The truck was equipped with a standard issue arctic package of heated fuel tank, filters and lines, since the fuel had a high cloud point of about 15°C and the truck sometimes operated in the cold temperatures of Idaho.
The University of Idaho sent graduate student Gary Lowe and Rupert Puntigam, a visiting scholar from Austria, to live near the company to make the fuel for the truck. After 200,000 miles of hauling feed from one end of the state to the other, the engine was sent to Caterpillar for inspection. It was concluded that the engine would run another 800,000 miles before needing an overhaul. The project was significant in documenting the success of using biodiesel in heavy equipment.
Campus Vehicles Running on Biodiesel
Currently, the University of Idaho’s biodiesel lab supplies fuel for campus vehicles (shuttles for visitors and the disabled, and a food service delivery truck), and farm vehicles, as well as for the lab’s service and display vehicles, including a 2001 TDI Volkswagen and a 1999 Dodge, both of which run on B100 year-round.
For over 30 years, the University of Idaho has experimented with triglyceride-based fuel, including many years of engine testing, both on test stands and in vehicles, with biodiesel, straight vegetable oil, and a variety of blends with petrodiesel. During the 1980s and 1990s on-road testing, each time biodiesel was tested in a vehicle, the engine was provided to the engine manufacturer for inspection. The goal was to prove to engine manufacturers that biodiesel would not harm their engines, and to convince them to warrantee their engines to run on biodiesel. Here is a summary of our work with engines and vehicles.
In 1979, in response to the petroleum shortages of the 1970s, University of Idaho professor Chuck Peterson experimented with using vegetable oil to run a Ford tractor. Although the tractor ran well for a while on the vegetable oil, the engine eventually got carboned up, the rings stuck, it lost compression, and quit running after several months of no or low load operation. Peterson then began researching ways to lower the viscosity of the oil. The University of Idaho Chemical Engineering department helped Peterson create a recipe for the product that is now termed “biodiesel.”
Lab Testing of Biodiesel
Several types of engines were tested in the lab from 1982 through 1992. Initially we had Wisconsin 2-cylinder air cooled diesels. Then we went to Kubota indirect injected 3-cylinder engines, and finally Yanmar direct injected 3-cylinder engines. These engines were tested on 100% diesel fuel, a 50-50 blend of vegetable oil and diesel fuel, 100% biodiesel (B100), and a 50-50 blend of biodiesel and petro-diesel (B50). We also ran the Yanmars on a 10% fish oil blend. The engines were dismantled and inspected in-house. The engines running biodiesel were always cleaner looking on the inside than the engines running 100% diesel fuel. There was generally more carbon build-up in the engines that ran on vegetable oil. We did a pre and post weighing of the rings, bearings and valves to gauge wear differences between engines running on different fuels, but they were never statistically significant. The rubber fuel lines in the engines running on biodiesel eventually got soft and started to seep fuel because of the good solvent properties of biodiesel, and had to be replaced occasionally. Today you can buy biodiesel resistant fuel lines.
On-Board Biodiesel Mixing Tanks
In 1992 a senior design project by Daryl Reece and his team, involving the design of an on-board mixing tank, evolved into Reece’s master’s thesis when he mounted the tanks on a 1992 Ford F250 and a Dodge Ram of the same year. The Ford had an indirect-injection Navistar 6.4 liter V8 engine and was tested on a blend of 80% diesel and 20% rapeseed oil. After running for 100,000 miles on this fuel, the engine was pulled out and sent to a Navistar plant, where it was dismantled and inspected. No unusual wear was found in the engine. Because this was an indirect-injection engine, it was more tolerant of off-spec fuel that included some straight vegetable oil. The engine was returned to us and the vehicle was put back into service.
The Dodge was equipped with a direct-injected Cummins 5.9 liter turbo-charged engine and ran on B20 for 100,000 miles. Gerald Fleishman and John Crockett of the Idaho Division of Water Resources were in charge of driving the vehicle, keeping records, and promoting biodiesel in the Boise area. The engine was sent to Cummins in Columbus, Indiana for inspection. No adverse effects were found from the fuel. Again this vehicle was put back into service and is being used today to haul waste vegetable oil from a University of Idaho food service site to be converted to biodiesel.
Peterson and Reece drove a 1994 Dodge with a 6 cylinder, 5.9 liter Cummins engine on a coast-to-coast trip, from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and back to Idaho. The truck carried on board the entire 320 gallons of B100 needed for the trip. This was the first time that a vehicle fueled entirely by biodiesel (B100) had made a coast-to-coast trip. In Washington, DC, Peterson and Reece met with legislators to educate them about biodiesel. After many more trips totaling 100,000 miles on B100, a Cummins engineer inspected the engine. Although a light rust coating was found in the injection pump (probably due to the fact that biodiesel absorbs more water than petro-diesel), no other adverse fuel-related effects were found. This vehicle remains in service as part of our motor pool.
Biodiesel was introduced into Yellowstone national park in 1995. At the time it was felt that even though it was more expensive, biodiesel should be used in environmentally sensitive areas. A Dodge 4WD truck with a 5.9 liter turbo-charged Cummins engine running on B100 was used to kick off the project. Park ranger and environmental manager Jim Evanoff drove the truck year-round. It was equipped with heated fuel lines and filter, as well as a heated 300-gallon fuel tank in the bed. The University of Idaho made and delivered the fuel for this truck for the first two years of the project. Evanoff kept records and spoke about his experience with the fuel at meetings and conferences. He was presented with the “Eye on Biodiesel” inspiration award at the 2006 National Biodiesel Conference for his advocacy. Howard Haines of the Montana Bioenergy Program was also involved with this project and managed the funding from Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the US Department of Energy.
Yellowstone was the first national park to use biodiesel. It was well received by park personnel and by many of the visitors who toured the park. In 1997, Yellowstone conducted a B20 trial in their garbage trucks and within a few years, the park decided to use B20 for all their vehicles, including tour buses and snow removal equipment. Influenced by Yellowstone's successful experience, many national parks now use biodiesel blends in their fleets.
As for the ’95 Dodge: after 100K miles and engine tear down, it was returned to service running on B100 till 2012, when it was retired and placed in the Yellowstone museum.
From 1997 to 1999 J.R. Simplot, an Idaho-based agriculture and food company, ran a Kenworth truck with a Caterpillar engine for 200,000 miles on a B50 blend of hydrogenated soy ethyl ester (HySEE) made from Simplot’s used French fry oil. The ethanol used in the reaction was made from potato waste at Simplot’s ethanol plant. The truck was equipped with a standard issue arctic package of heated fuel tank, filters and lines, since the fuel had a high cloud point of about 15°C and the truck sometimes operated in the cold temperatures of Idaho.
The University of Idaho sent graduate student Gary Lowe and Rupert Puntigam, a visiting scholar from Austria, to live near the company to make the fuel for the truck. After 200,000 miles of hauling feed from one end of the state to the other, the engine was sent to Caterpillar for inspection. It was concluded that the engine would run another 800,000 miles before needing an overhaul. The project was significant in documenting the success of using biodiesel in heavy equipment.
Campus Vehicles Running on Biodiesel
Currently, the University of Idaho’s biodiesel lab supplies fuel for campus vehicles (shuttles for visitors and the disabled, and a food service delivery truck), and farm vehicles, as well as for the lab’s service and display vehicles, including a 2001 TDI Volkswagen and a 1999 Dodge, both of which run on B100 year-round.