Alternative to red diesel

[mirabriani]

Biodiesel could be the way to go

This fuel is "grown" It can be made from rape, sunflower,soya etc.
Unlike other alternative power sources it can power existing engines.
It actually has better lubricating properties than existing diesel.
It also burns cleaner.
It is added to some existing diesel fuels in France
Thanks to some campaigning it is likely to be about 20% cheaper
than convential diesel
The Germans and French are already ahead of us in this development

See more at biodiesel.co.uk
or biodiesel.de/english.htm
or (possibly) veggievan.org

Regards Briani

[TJAGAIN]

i hear a lot of truck firms are dying the white diesel blue they say to deter thieves but as recently seen on ebay this stuff is available to anyone and can, so they say dye red diesel blue and as far as i am aware it is not illiegal to run on blue diesel only red

[BrendanS]

makes no difference what colour they make the red diesel go, the dye they use to make it red will still be there, and can be tested for, and prosecuted against. Removing the 'red' dye is a difficult process

[ArgoNot]

I make no recommendation here nor assertion of veracity but many years ago I was told that the way to remove the red dye was to filter the diesel through "fullers earth" which, I believe, is a naturally occuring mineral. That same source, though, also said that as well as the dye, red diesel was also 'marked' by the addition of an isotope. You can get the red out but not the isotope so you can still be found out.

The Red dye is the visual element - but there is a yellow marker chemical in the fuel. This is the real hard one to remove ... !!

Many have tried but failed ....

Dyeing white blue is pointless as simple test will show that its not ULSD / Road diesel .....

[wully1]

Central heating oil! that's what I'll be using if they try to steal more tax from me. Works OK in the van although I don't know how it'll treat modern diesel engines but since I don't have one it wont matter- it's either that or scrounge some off a fishing boat as I believe they'll be exempt? Another good reason is the heater will burn better [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

qed

[williamr]

As I understand it, Bio-diesel currently only uses about 5% bio fuel with 95% conventional diesel. The tax advantage only applies to the bio component, so commercially available bio diesel is only about 1% cheaper than ordinary diesel.

This may change as with more experience the pecentage of bio fuel in the mix is likely to increase, and its production cost relative to ordinary diesel may drop if the oil price continues to increase, but at the moment its only real advantage is a (nice?) smell.

Rob

[Lionel]

Have hardly seen any mention on running on chip fat oils in these threads.

Last year I read up on how frying oils are an expense that food outlets have to cough up for in their disposal. It takes a bit of filtering and if I recall rightly, you had to add a mere drop of diesel to the frying oil for it to work.

I did see one person mention in these forums that he felt marine diesels would not cope with such alternatives but my guess is that could be overcome with some engine/pump mods.

You can also elect to pay the road tax per litre if you want to keep honest, when it came to road use. It was mere pence. Sorry, but I have no recall of the website I found this on but a quick google should find it. It was UK based.

Probably worth adding that it does smell a bit but hey, if you are on the sea smelling of chips, well [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[adrianm]

[ QUOTE ]
Central heating oil! that's what I'll be using if they try to steal more tax from me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where will you buy it from though? All suppliers are under a legal obligation to report usage that is out of the ordinary to the C&E.