Fwd from the California list. >From: girl Mark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [Burnveggies] quality control problems at Imperial Western Products >Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 17:33:56 -0800 (PST) > >Hi all, > I've reposted Kris's report on his fuel filter >clogging and fuel system problem below. > I've got some info on this following his post (and >unfortunately someone passed off Kris' dead filter to >me last week, and it is GROSS. It's covered with thick >waxy brown goo): > >from Kris [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Tue, 4 Nov 2003 20:37:58 -0800 > >I just had my truck shutdown because of a clogged fuel >filter. I do not >know if it is an accumulative problem or the case of >some bad fuel. But >it is a bit suspect because it happened just after I >got a new batch of >fuel from a new supplier. >I do not want to point at anyone yet because I am >still not sure if it >was caused by this new fuel or from all of my >biodiesel usage over time. > >So if you care here is the story: >I have a 2003 Dodge ram 2500 diesel. I bought it new >about a year ago >and have put on 25,000 miles. I have ran B100 from >the day I drove it >off the lot. I have probably ran about 80% B100 since >new. I changed >the fuel filter at about 15,000 miles even though it >didn't need it. >Dodge recommends every 25,00 miles. So this new >filter clogged in >10,000 miles. And I knew it was clogged because it >left me limping home >on the freeway at 30 mph on my way home from a >Halloween party wearing a >hula skirt and a coconut top, (and I'm a fat white >guy) quite an ugly >scene! So needless to say I was not happy with this >situation. > >I got it back from the dodge dealership along with a >written warning >from Chrysler about the use of biodiesel. I had them >save the filter >for me and it is coated in nasty brown sludge. I >bought a spare filter >to go so I don't get left hanging again. > >This is the fuel part: >I have been running B100 that I have been purchasing >from Yokayo and >Golden Gate in Martinez. Which I have heard they are >both getting it >from the same source (I don't know for sure). And I >bought 120 gallons >from the boulder biodiesel co-op a few months ago on >the road. I have >never ran home made fuel! All fuel I have ran has been >commercially >purchased. So I picked up a load of fuel at Naft Gas a >week ago Sunday >(I don't know where they are getting fuel these days). > >I had dinoD in it when I fueled up so for a week I was >running about B30 >of the new fuel. Then last Friday afternoon I topped >off the tank with >B100 so I was probably at about B95 in the tank. I >put on about 50 >miles that day and then it clogged up on the way home. > I don't know if >it is the new fuel or not? It may just be a general >biodiesel issue to >be aware of. But It clogged more than twice as fast >as it should >according to Dodge. I still have about 70 gallons of >this fuel. It >does not look gelled, It has got a bit chilly the last >few nights but >not that bad. I never had fuel gel here last >winter???????????? >That's my two cents. > >Sorry this was a bit long but details are important. > >Kris > >*********** >Mark's reply: > >I've been hearing since early summer that there have >been quality control problems at Imperial Western >Products ( they are the only california commercial >producer of biodiesel, and are the (now former) >supplier for Yokayo, probably the current supplier for >Golden Gate Petroleum, and through Golden Gate, the >City of Berkeley's fleet). Earlier in the summer, >people had noticed cloudy fuel and Dr. Randall Von >Weidel got some of this fuel and had it tested >somewhere. I found this out because the Berkeley >Biodiesel Coop got offered a large donation of this >poor quality fuel from some other buyer, and we turned >it down. It was cloudy- biodiesel shoudl never be >cloudy- and there were some other problems with it >(water- most probably due to poor storage and handling >by whomever gave it to us) > >In the process I found out that Randall had a sample >of the stuff and he'd had it tested. It turned out to >contain a high level of 'triglycerides' (I don' >tremember that there's a test specifically for >triglycerides but what that means is that there's >unconverted oil in the biodiesel, a big no-no for fuel >systems.) > > Usually in a lab you test biodiesel for 'total and >free glyceride content'. 'Free glycerol' is the stuff >someone didn't wash out, and 'total Glycerol' is free >glycerine plus monoglycerides and diglycerides.). >These are tests that anyone can have done at Williams >Lab for $80. > > Now, this isn't the first time there've been >quality control problems with a commercial producer- >World Energy had a problem in late spring with >shipping out a bunch of fuel to the Northwest which >contained large amounts of actual free glycerine (see >thread in Biodieselnow.com forums entitled 'beware of >bad biodiesel'). > > Free glycerine takes some VERY poor quality control >and someone at World Energy's suppliers was probably >REALLY cutting corners in order for this to have >happened. > > That's apparently not what was wrong with the IWP >fuel. Monoglycerides and diglycerides content (ie >conversion) is easy-ish to screw up and is something >that plagues commercial producers and homebrewers >alike. This summer I watched four samples of biodiesel >go through Total and Free Glycerol testing, and three >of them (one homebrew and two commercial samples) >failed on Total Glycerol. > >More recently there have been a number of complaints >from various consumers of fuel from Naft and from >other sources. People mostly complained that the fuel >was cloudy and that they had filter clogging >apparently. I believe that Marinbiodiesel list also >had a thread on this lately. Of course if you're like >Kris and didn't expect clogging to be possible (ie >you're past the flushing out your tank stage or you've >always run a new car on B100) you think you have a >problem much worse than a clogged filter- so you tow >the car in to the dealership and potentially start >spending huge amounts of money if no one is expecting >fuel filter plugging to be the problem. > > > As I understand it, Yokayo also ran some of the >same tests through Williams laboratories and found the >same problems as Randall did months earlier. Yokayo >then stopped selling IWP fuel recently, which is >unfortunate because IWP is the cheapest and closest >producer. Yokayo now sells (temporarily) soy-based >biodiesel and I think is looking for recycled fuel >from another source. > > Golden Gate still stocks IWP fuel as far as I know. I >DO NOT know what is sold by Western States Oil, and >therefore (?) by Naft. Western States sells fuel from >Biodiesel Industries in NEvada, which primarily deals >withthe military and government fleets and in my >understanding has some shortage issues- can't quite >keep up with the demand for their product. > I was under the impression that Western States also >buys some IWP fuel to make up for the shortfall, but >that could be a rumor- can anyone confirm? > > Naft started carrying fuel from a supplier other >than Yokayo after Yokayo dropped them for nonpayment >of bills (previous posts here about this in the >archives). The price at Naft fluctuated somewhat after >this. I do not know personally if this price >fluctuation means that they carried fuel from more >than one supplier during this time. But they did start >to use Western States Oil/Biodiesel Industries >labeling and literature, which leads you to believe >that this is where their stuff comes from. If Naft is >supplied by GOlden Gate Petroleum then they are likely >to be selling the same cloudy/poor conversion IWP fuel >that we've been seeing this summer. If Naft is >supplied by Western States Oil and if Western States >buys some IWP fuel, then the cloudy fuel issues/filter >plugging might be related to the IWP plant. > > One of us should call up Imperial Western Products >and ask them if they supply fuel to Western States Oil >(i've done this sort of thing with them in the past >when the BBC was researching the 'who's who in >california biodiesel' topic, IWP people are friendly >to such phone calls. Obviously don't tell them you're >investigating their quality control problems in the >same phone call!). > >If you're interested in biodiesel testing laboratory >services, WIlliams Lab Services is 913.621 3603 and is >in Kansas City. The glycerol analysis they do is ASTM >D6584 - the gas chromatography method required for >meeting ASTM specs on commercial on-road biodiesel. > >Please let the list know if anyone finds out anything >more about suppliers in this area and who is connected >to whom. > >Mark > > > > > >__________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard >http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree >_______________________________________________ >Burnveggies mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://goblin.punk.net/mailman/listinfo/burnveggies
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