When fishermen in the Miller family come in to fuel their boats, they’re riding on the edge of a new wave in Maine and throughout the country. They’ve begun to use B20, biodiesel fuel, a mixture of 80 percent petroleum diesel mixed with 20 percent biodiesel, which is derived from plants such as soybeans and corn or recycled restaurant oils.
Hale Miller says the family, owners of A & R Enterprises at Miller’s Wharf in Tenants Harbor, and some friends own a total of 10 boats. They use about 70,000 to 100,000 gallons of fuel a year. Before making the switch to B20, they did considerable research on the Internet and also talked with a variety of people who have experience with biodiesel. These included officials from Bangor and Falmouth, where it is used in municipal buildings and vehicles, and the owner of Harvest Fuels of Rockport and of Frontier Fuel, which provides biodiesel to many customers, including L.L. Bean and Dragon Cement.
“Basically, I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants,” Miller says. After all the research and inquiries, he adds, he didn’t see anything to discourage him from making the switch, and plenty of reasons to support the move.
Although the Millers appreciate the environmental benefits of biodiesel, their primary motive in changing over was concern about their engines now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has mandated reduced sulphur levels in petroleum diesel. This mandate concerns the Millers because the new ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) fuel’s radically reduced sulphur content means considerable reduction in the “lubricity” of the fuel.
Pete Hikel at Bosch Diesel Injection Equipment in Bangor says since the introduction of ULSD they have observed that engine seals have been drying out more quickly and that there’s been more leaking. The Millers worried about this. “When people have to start using the ultra low sulphur diesel and start burning up fuel pumps, rings, liner and valves,” says Hale Miller, “they’ll need to know about using biodiesel. It has more lubricity and burns cleaner. We felt it would be better for the engines.”
Robert Judge of the EPA explained the new rules in this way: by Oct. 1, 2007, there will be a potential for three grades of diesel fuel. The first two are off-road uses: home heating oil, which will be permitted to contain roughly up to 3,000 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur; and Low Sulphur Diesel (LSD), allowed a maximum of 500 ppm of sulphur. On-road diesel will be ULSD, with a maximum of 15 ppm of sulphur. There is a provision, Judge adds, that allows a certain amount of LSD to be sold as on-road fuel, but he believes that it will not be practical for filling stations to have two diesel pumps, one for ULSD and one for LSD.
Further practicalities are intervening, Judge notes. “I’ve been hearing that there will be a minimal market for 500 ppm diesel (LSD),” he says. He attributes this to the difficulty retailers will have maintaining space for three types of fuel. Thus, it may be that only ULSD and home heating oil will be available in many areas.
Effects on Boat Owners — As of Oct. 1, oil storage terminals, distributors and retail marinas will be required to sell LSD or ULSD, nothing over 500 ppm. Therefore, by Oct. 1, depending on what is available, boat owners will be able to buy either LSD or ULSD (or biodiesel). By Dec. 1 this year, boats will be expected to have used up any fuel with over 500 ppm sulphur content.
Hikel says the conversion to ULSD for on-road vehicles has been ahead of schedule.
“Pretty soon, the off-road use will be ULSD as well,” he says. “A lot of plants aren’t making anything besides ULSD by now, so it’s getting filtered into everywhere.” He notes there are several different chemical additives on the market which can increase lubricity, but they do not offer the environmental and health advantages of reducing the amount of petroleum diesel by using the B20 mixture.
Joel Glatz, owner of Frontier Energy in South China, which supplies both biodiesel and regular petroleum diesel for on and off road use, including home heating oil, says he attended a conference of large oil companies where the companies assured they were adding chemicals to the new ULSD to increase lubricity. However, Glatz says, “I’m not saying every single refinery has it perfect, but that these issues are being addressed. Maybe biodiesel [with its high lubricity] is good in a low blend rate as a preventive.” He adds that there is a new state requirement that all off-road diesel be labeled with its sulphur content.
After more than a month using biodiesel, the Millers were comfortable with the changeover. “Before, we were having problems with fuel filters with the other garbage we were getting,” says Hale Miller. “I don’t think we’ll have any problems with biodiesel, not from all the research I did.” Because biodiesel acts as a solvent and cleans out accumulated gunk, Harvest Fuels, their supplier, came to the wharf and cleaned out their fuel tank before refilling with biodiesel.
A study conducted by CytoCulture (see www.cytoculture.com/biodiesel) of 100 recreational boaters using biodiesel in the San Francisco Bay Area confirms that the proper use of biodiesel can be trouble free. Eighty-seven percent of the boats had no problems. Any problems that did occur were on boats using a mixture higher than B20 and with pre-existing conditions like dirty fuel tanks and rubber hoses.
Ted Wengren, owner of Strout’s Point Wharf Company in Freeport, is out in the lead with the Miller family. Last summer, he switched his marina’s petroleum diesel fuel to B20 biodiesel. His is the first marina in Maine to offer biodiesel, and perhaps in the Northeast.
Before making the switch, Wengren tried out biodiesel in his own tractor and boat. He found he liked it, he says, “because they ran cleaner, with a reduction of odor and soot out over the transom.” In CytoCulture’s San Francisco Bay study, participants also said they were especially happy with biodiesel’s cleaner burning and lack of noxious odor and particulate.
At Wengren’s dock, the fuel pump has a sign, “MARINE B20 BIODIESEL” Cym Hughes, manager of the wharf, says he and Wengren did quite a bit of research before changing over to make sure biodiesel would be better not only for the environment but also for their customers’ boat engines. Calls to diesel manufacturers Cummins, Yanmar and Caterpillar, assured them that the biodiesel wouldn’t cause any problems, and so far, no customers have complained. In fact, Hughes says, many seek out Strout’s Point because they want the cleaner burning fuel and are willing to support the environmental benefits of biodiesel. Wengren is supplied by Independence BioFuel of Durham and Portland.
Last summer, biodiesel captured attention at Maine’s lobster boat races when John Hutchins, owner of Downeast Boat in Penobscot, donated 50/50 biodiesel blend for Mystery Machine, a consistent winner. Hutchins believes the higher lubricity of biodiesel, plus water injection, gave Mystery Machine the edge.
Hutchins also noted that reduced lubrication of the new ULSD will be harmful to engines built before 2007. “It’ll be like when unleaded gas first came out,” he says. “There were a lot of problems in older engines, like valves failing. If you’re making a living with a boat with a $40- to $50,000 engine, I’d use synthetic oil and a little biodiesel too,” he says. “It would be one way to run the new ULSD and not have to worry.”
Footprints — Other marine based businesses are interested in shifting to biodiesel as availability and acceptance increases. They and lobstermen may also be motivated in the future by a proposed marketing tool, a “carbon usage stamp” which would be put on products to show the amount of carbon emissions accumulated in their production. (see accompanying story) This figure rises with each mile biodiesel is transported, a reason to support more production of biodiesel in Maine.
Jennie Bichrest, who owns Purse Line Bait in Phippsburg, initiated plans for a biodiesel tank on her property, but had to abandon them in favor of investing the money in an additional freezer. Bichrest runs 10 trucks with diesel engines. She concluded it would be more economical at this time for them to fuel at gas stations along their routes rather than travel 15 miles down the Phippsburg peninsula to her location. “I wanted to do something that would be good environmentally, and I understand it is much better for engines,” she says. She hopes an increasing number of fuel stops will offer biodiesel.
Chip Davison of Great Eastern Mussel Co. in Tenants Harbor is interested, too. He says he would use biodiesel if it were available and the cost was competitive with regular petroleum diesel.
The Millers, Strout’s Point and others are part of a trend toward marine biodiesel use in Maine and beyond. Coastal Barge and Mooring, based in Harpswell; Schooners in Rockland and Camden; The Good Return of Belfast Bay Cruises; the Bustin’s Island Ferry; the College of the Atlantic’s Allied Whale boat; Odyssey, a Portland-based whale watch charter and Indian II, a recreational charter boat also based in Portland, are among marine enterprises in Maine that have made the switch.
Garry Glatz, owner of Independence BioFuel of Durham and South Portland, would like to conduct focus groups along the coast to inform the marine community about biodiesel. “I’d hope to reach fishermen, sightseeing and excursion boat owners and recreational boaters,” he says, but adds that he needs to obtain funding for this outreach.
Nationally, marinas scattered along the mid-Atlantic and southern coast are offering biodiesel. The National Biodiesel Board says the U.S. Navy established a policy in 2005 that it would use B20 in all U.S. Navy and Marine non-tactical diesel vehicles.
Like the price of marine petroleum diesel, wholesale B20 prices are governed by several variables such as the amount bought and if there is a long-term contract. Retail prices for boat owners are higher at a full-service marina with added expenses and services than they are at a fishing co-op or privately owned lobster wharf. On June 15, 2007, both on-road and marina biodiesel was less expensive than petroleum diesel sold at comparable facilities.
Biodiesel proponents would like to see the state make the fuel more attractive for marine use by providing an incentive that will keep off-road biodiesel prices competitive with other off-road fuel.