Earth Day 2021 Series Day 3: Renewable Liquid Fuels: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

April 03, 2021

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by Hannah DelSordo* (Advanced Biofuels USA) Take yourself back to an earlier time, when we relied on horses, oxen and other renewably fueled animals for mobility and work. (They ate corn, wheat, oats and other bio-plants, didn't they?)

Now move ahead a few years. In the early days of cars and trucks, there wasn’t a system of gas stations. So cars and trucks were built to use the fuel that could be made on farms or near where the cars and trucks were used. Thus, the original Ford Model T ran on ethanol and the first diesel engines used peanut oil. When gasoline came into use, later Model T’s were the first “flex-fuel” vehicles. They could use ethanol and gasoline. Eventually, gasoline was sold mixed with ethanol, as we do today.

Today

Today, you buy biofuels at the “gas” or “petrol” station. In the US, almost all the regular gasoline is E10—or 10% ethanol, a biofuel; some is 15%, E15. You might also see 20% and even 30% ethanol blends, certainly you will see some E85 pumps.

The more ethanol in the fuel, the higher the octane. Ethanol use increased as a replacement for MTBE, an animal carcinogen that leaked into groundwater from gas station tanks. After many lawsuits, it was banned in about half the US states. However, it is still used in gasoline in other parts of the world and could be replaced with safer ethanol.

You can also buy biodiesel blends. In the US and Canada often petroleum diesel is 2%-5% biodiesel; and some fleets use 20% or even 100% biodiesel in public works equipment and farm equipment or in specially adapted cars and trucks.

Racing

Biofuels have been used in racing. Cars racing in the old ALMS (American Le Mans Series) used a variety of renewable fuels experimenting with biobutanol, cellulosic E85, E10 and E20. NASCAR uses E15. F1 is planning for renewable fuel use.

Aviation

Renewable aviation fuel is called “Sustainable Alternative Fuel” or SAF. Globally, more than 40 airlines now have already implemented SAF at some level, with about 200,000 commercial flights using SAF since 2011.

Buses

Some buses around the world use renewable natural gas or biomethane for fuel in engines that can use compressed natural gas.

Trucks

Trucks on the roads today can also use renewable natural gas (RNG), as well as biodiesel blends and renewable diesel, also known as HVO or green diesel. It can completely substitute for petroleum diesel.

Individual Transportation: Cars and Motorcycles

In the US, you can use E15 or 15% ethanol fuel in vehicles built since 2001. At this time, in the US, motorcycles may only use up to 10% ethanol fuel, E10, which is the most common fuel at gas stations there.

Ships

In January 2020, the international maritime organization’s regulation to reduce dangerous sulfur oxide emissions from ships went into effect. Now, low sulfur renewable fuels help the shipping industry meet these requirements.

Military

Military aircraft and ships around the world can use renewable fuels as well.

Heating and Cooking

Biofuels can also be used for heating. Bioheat™ fuel is a blend of cleaner-burning ultra-low-sulfur heating oil and biodiesel.

Ethanol cookstoves are a safe alternative to indoor wood and charcoal fires and can be used for meal preparation.

Future

In the future, we can expect to use renewable hydrogen or ethanol for fuel cell powered cars and trucks.

Fuels that substitute for petroleum fuels may be made from renewable hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. Sometimes they are called “synthetic” or electrofuels.

A recent study done in Nebraska indicates E30, 30% ethanol, can be used in many of today’s cars and more research is being done to optimize gasoline engines for E30.

What about rockets and missiles? Well, research is being done to use renewable fuels in those too.

What You Can Do:

-Watch this short (3-minute) video about renewable fuels yesterday, today and tomorrow. https://youtu.be/uxYxmWzUpj4

-Find out if the buses in your community run on renewable fuels. Let the operators know or write to them that you would like to see that happen.

-Support organizations like Project Gaia that work to increase use of clean cooking fuel and stoves with projects in Haiti, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, India and more.

Find more Earth Day 2021 posts here.

Join us for Introduction to Renewable Fuels: What, How and Why? — April 28, 2021 — ONLINE

by Hannah DelSordo, a junior at Dickinson College majoring in International Studies and French, volunteers at Advanced Biofuels USA in preparation for a career working on environmental issues and policy.

From: Fitting Renewable Fuels into Your Fleet’s Sustainability Strategy https://www.act-news.com/news/fitting-renewable-fuels-into-your-fleets-sustainability-strategy/

NYSEC, NBB and industry partners promote bioheat for Earth Day (Biodiesel Magazine)

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history Aviation Fuel/Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) ethanol/bioethanol peanuts/groundnuts plant oil gasoline flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) E10 E15 E20 E30 E15 pumps E20 pumps E30 pumps E85 pumps B2 B5 Canada Fleets B20 B100 Green Racing Jetfuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)) commercial flights buses trucks Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Renewable Diesel/Green Diesel/HVO/Paraffinic Diesel HVO (Hydrotreated vegetable oil) motorcycles Marine/Maritime Bio and Renewable/Sustainable Fuel (SMF) military use of biofuels heating oil/fuel cooking fuel cook stoves Hydrogen/Renewable Hydrogen fuel cells electrofuels (e-fuels) Nebraska rocket fuel What You Can Do teacher resources

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