Fwd from Biofuels: >To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com >From: "girl_mark_fire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 18:19:47 -0000 >Subject: [biofuel] quality control, customer service, and big industry > >The thing I wonder about, is whether this quality control problem >would have been even reported (or found) if Dr Dan's Alternative Fuel >Works hadn't reported it or if individual enthusiasts hadn't put >pressure on Industry to " 'fess up". (and as I said, it's not just >World Energy that this happens to, I just found out about a similar >recall happening with another company so don't take it personally, >Graham) > >This brings up the issue of small,local, biodiesel-only businesses, >versus large, central, faraway, petroleum of Big Agribusiness >producers of BD, and the issue of "who's going to provide the >consumer with better service?" > > >In our area the Berkeley co-op and other local (reasonably >influential) biodiesel advocates have noticed that petroleum >companies who distribute biodiesel tend to have what we call a "pump >and dump" attitude. Biodiesel is only a small part of their business, >they go after fleet accounts, and are terrible at the 'handholding' >that is sometimes required if anything goes wrong (which it DOES in a >fleet situation)- they're just not prioritising the customer service >aspect because in the petroleum business customer service and >education isn't as necessary as it is with a new (and variable- >feedstock, therefore variable-properties) fuel. > > In our area there's also a different couple of biodiesel advocates >(most audibly Lisa Gaultier of Excess Acess and "the Biodiesel >Solution Consortium" which I believe Josh Tickell is either a part of >or is some kind of informal advisor to, they throw his name around in >conjunction with it) who are just salivating over working with oil >companies and how great it'll be when the oil compainies fully jump >on the biodiesel bandwagon- because, they reason, they "already have >all the infrastructure" and other (poor) reasoning (including Lisa's >wonderful term, "we'll be easing the energy industry into >sustainability (!!!!!)". to which statement one of the other local >activists replied, "WOuld you say that to a Nigerian?" in reference >to the Shell-backed murder of Ogoni environmentalists a few years >ago... > > In actual experience, though, I've actually heard of a number of >cases of service problems, one of them big and local, which would not >have been as likely if the Industry was composed of more locally >accountable, locally owned, small business, biodiesel-only businesses >rather than larger oil distributors or big agribusiness producers, >for whom biodiesel is just another random, low-profit-margin product >rather than their sole business. Since Graham and keith make the >point that 'problems' like quality control or poor education of users >are a setback in the public acceptance of biodiesel, it is important >to point out that some of these problems seem to be very much tied to >whether biodiesel is the industry's primary focus, or whether it is >just some kind of sideline product. I think people like Lisa Gaultier >(and Josh Tickell?) are so convinced that bigger-is-better and that >the route to a rapid spread of biodiesel use is for grassroots >activists to support and enable Big Industry. This false assumption >is high on our co-op's Advocacy committee's "hit list" of myths to >rally the locals against. > >(for instance, one story (I hope I have it straight) this spring was >that our local petroleum co BD distributor counseled a large fleet to >put the very first biodiesel they bought, directly into their >underground diesel tank without cleaning out the 30-year-old tank >first (or perhaps the petroleum co just didn't counsel them NOT to, >that's the part I admittedly don't have straight since the fleet >isn't exactly talking about this embarrassing situation), and of >course there was 30 years of nasty bacteria-infected sludge in that >tank, and of course (and I DID see this personally while using the >fleet's facility this spring) the fleet had an environmental cleanup >specialist in there for a couple of weeks cleaning up the horrible >mess that resulted (several thousand ruined gallons of baceria- >infected biodiesel) that resulted in the underground tank). You won't >hear about this story in the news, and I don't want to name the fleet >it happened to, but it is an example of what we immediately started >calling the "pump and dump" attitude on behalf of larger industry >rather than smaller biodiesel specialists. > >What this story and others like it made our locals realize is that we >REALLY need small producers who ONLY focus on biodiesel to spring up, >we REALLY need local distributors who ONLY focus on biodiesel, we >REALLY need local control of this industry without the distraction of >Big Agribusiness (ie ADM/Cargill and the like pushing their soy >agenda) or petroleum business (ie distributors who are used to >thinking in only petroleum terms). > We REALLY need to see honest, informed customer-service and >transparency in the industry be a high priority. We;re halfway >there, with all the enthusiasts who do a lot of the unpaid research, >educatin, and sleuthing that helps promote public acceptance of this >fuel. >And our local grassroots advocacy group feels that the educational >aspect of the biodiesel business isn't just about 'convincing' fleets >to use the stuff- the fuel ISN"T like diesel and there is more to >making and selling it than there is to making and selling petroleum. > > >Now, local production/distribution is no guarantee of quality control >and honesty- but several of us including people in the business (or >commercial, fleet users of BD) believe that biodiesel-only small >businesses would devote more of their attention to 'getting it >right', and for distributorship in particular, it really can't come >to users through the large petroleum companies without problems >eventually arising- they just don't treat it as their primary >product... > >IN the World Energy case, I wonder about two things: > >did the lab screw up on the initial analysis, or did they send out a >poor quality untested batch, and had to recall it only when Dr Dan's >(locally owned, biodiesel-specialist distributor) "caught" them at >it?. the other explanation that comes to mind is that it's not >glycerine in their fuel, but some byproduct of rotting in transit, >which is possible but unlikely, and would of course not be a slipup >on World Energy's part (other than water content or shipping method). > >I believe that the ASTM requirements don't stipulate how often you >have to do testing. The local (well sort of) WVO plant here in CA >(Imperial Western Products) sends out an analysis with every batch, >they're apparently a batch plant. But in a continuous plant using >WVO, I wonder how often quality variations slip past "quality >control". One railcar worth of this stuff coming out of a continuous >plant isn't a very high percent of that large plant's daily output, >yet if it is one railcar of poor quality fuel that came out before >they caught the 'problem', it can conceivably do some serious damage >in the area where that railcar ends up. If I hadn't made this point >clearly yet, it's very telling to me that it was a smaller, >enthusiast-based business who 'caught' the problem... > >arright, end of soapbox lecture. >mark > > > > > > > And now this. "Floaties or separate", "high glycerine content and > > possibly other particulate"? My, my. There are some FLAKEY > > homebrewers who make FLAKEY fuel, as we all know ("there's no > > evidence it does any damage", yeah), but how would you go about > > getting it this flakey? Now what was that you were saying about the > > commercial guys only having to test one sample a year to meet > > requirements, and what sort of guarantee was that? Others said > > homebrewers were more likely to do quality because they'd be more > > likely to take pride in it and it's for their own vehicles, rather > > than just doing the minimum that the bottom line dictates. > > > > Anyway, though I'm sure there's been some chortling about all this, > > Graham was right about one thing in the first place even if he > > pointed the finger in the wrong direction - this kind of stuff is a > > setback for biofuels development, no matter who's responsible. > > Hopefully industry will take it to heart and tighten up their act a > > bit. > > > > The really puzzling bit though is the different test results - the > > first "lab analysis showing that it met ASTM spec", and then the > > "independent lab and found it did not meet spec". What is going on > > here exactly? Is this what we've been saying about only one sample >a > > year, or is there more to it than that? > > > > Graham's still around on the list, maybe he'll give us some more >information. > > > > Regards > > > > Keith > > > > > > > > >By the way we just had some kind of unrelated recall of out of >spec fuel > > >locally, also due to glyceride content being too high. this was >from a > > >different producer. > > > > > >the thread is here: > > >http://forums.biodieselnow.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=941 > > > > > >quote: > > >Graham Noyes, the West Coast Representative for World Energy >responded to > > >the email with a posting at Fred's. Here is his answer- > > >"This is Graham from World Energy here. We apologize for the >inconvenience > > >of the presence of crappy biodiesel and are doing our level best >to solve > > >the problem. I think some more information on the situation could >be helpful. > > > > > >First, this biodiesel is crappy not because it is Yellow Grease >(aka > > >recycled) biodiesel but because it is out of spec biodiesel. Prior >to > > >triggering this railcar, we received lab analysis showing that it >met ASTM > > >spec. The good work of Dr. Dan alerted us that there might be an >issue with > > >the fuel. We sent samples to an independent lab and found it did >not meet > > >spec. We then pulled all product and stopped supplying. If you >have product > > >that does not meet spec, we will replace it with ASTM spec fuel. We > > >guarantee that our fuel meets ASTM spec and back that up as >necessary. > > > > > >Second, there are differences between recycled and virgin product. >Most > > >significantly, YG product has a higher cloud point and CFPP than >virgin. > > >For this reason, we do not typically supply YG product except in >warm > > >climates or warm seasons. > > > > > >The floaties or separate that was observed is high glycerine >content and > > >possibly other particulate. This is not present in fuel that is in >spec, > > >including YG biodiesel. > > > > > >We have returned to soy product in the Northwest until quality >control > > >issues have been resolved. Our goal is to expand the use of >biodiesel and > > >provide honest information on product differences. Thanks for >helping us > > >toward this goal! > > > > > >Best, > > > > > >Graham"
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