Posted on 02/08/2006 7:59:53 PM PST by LouAvul
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Country singer Willie Nelson introduced California on Wednesday to "BioWillie," his brand of clean-burning fuel made from soybeans.
BioWillie went on sale at an alternative fuel station in San Diego where the 72-year-old singer drew a crowd as he filled his tour bus from a pump emblazoned with a picture of himself strumming a guitar.
"It is the future," Nelson said. "Through biodiesel, we can reduce dependency on foreign oil and adopt an energy source that's clean renewable and helps family farmers find new uses for their products."
Actress Darryl Hannah, who drives a biodiesel-powered black Chevrolet El Camino, joined the singer at Pearson Ford Fuel Depot, where drivers can also fill 'em up on propane, ethanol and natural gas.
Biodiesel is America's fastest growing alternative fuel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. U.S. sales of biodiesel tripled last year to 75 million gallons, but account for less than 1 percent of the diesel fuel sold nationwide, said Jenna Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board, which is hosting a conference on biodiesel in San Diego. More than 600 filling stations sell biodiesel to the public.
Nelson first learned about biodiesel three years ago when his wife, Annie, purchased a biodiesel-burning car in Hawaii, where the star has a home. The biodiesel that powered her Volkswagen Jetta was made from grease collected from restaurants. He bought a diesel Mercedes and then began filling his tour buses with biodiesel.
After filling up the singer's bus in Dallas in December 2004, biodiesel supplier Peter Bell convinced Nelson to go into business and lend his name and image to help the little known fuel gain wider acceptance. But Bell said he has been surprised to see the singer devoting much of his time to the cause.
(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
How much oil is used to produce this biodiesel?
These oil-yielding algae--which are grown in the same type of fermentation tanks used in commercial beer brewing--could be processed into diesel fuel, heating oil, kerosene, and even possibly gasoline, plus the "waste" from the production can be processed further into animal feed and/or ethanol fuel! 
"The BioWillie brand, known as B20 is a blend of 80 percent petroleum diesel and 20 percent biodiesel..."
BioWillie, huh? Where is Clemenza? This just screams out for his particular comedic touch.
[cue "On The Road Again"...and if he's not using that song to promote this stuff, why the heck not?]
Soybeans? I would think Willie would have used pot.
The "bio" part of the fuel is recycled deep-fryer grease.
So now your exhaust smells like McDonald's, I guess.
Well,if you run your tractors on biodiesel, and power the chemical processing plant from nukes, zero. Basically, you have to extract the oil from the plants. The oil is then run through a process called "transesterification" wherein it is mixed with methanol and lye to produce biodiesel and glycerine (about half and half). My question is what are they gonna do with all of the glycerine? The world only uses so much soap.
The whole biodesiel process is undertaken to reduce the viscosity of the oil so it will run through the fuel system. An alternative (better) is to run the diesel engine on straight vegetable oil after using the exhaust to heat the oil. The car has two fuel tanks. The car is started and run for a few minutes on biodiesel, or petro-diesel, and a temperture switch switches the car over to stright oil once it comes up to temp. Rudolph diesel actually invented his engine to run on straight vegetable oil, allowing farmers to grow their own tractor fuel.
Some have said the energy required to grow and harvest the crops exceeds the oil output of the crops. I haven't seen the numbers, so I don't know if it's a net loser.
The williebus is powered by biodiesel; willie is powered by acapulco gold.
That's the funny part! I guess he's only cares about biodiesel about 20% as much as he says.
There's some dispute about it, but most "experts" now agree that ethanol nets out somewhat more energy than it takes to make it (it's disputed because calculating how much energy it takes to grow, harvest and ship the crops, then convert to energy requires a lot of estimating). It's gonna have to be considerably more efficient before ethanol use is practical for more than a few hollywood types, but hopefully it is headed in that direction. For once they are at least working towards something worthwhile.
The numbers I've seen show that biodiesel is the only hybrid fuel which actually might reduce costs - primarily because it does not require an entirely new engine or one which is far more expensive like the gas/electric vehicles. And unlike Ethanol, it can actually be produced for LESS than the market costs for diesel gas.
Art Bell had Willie on about a year or so ago. The following week, iirc, he had knowledgeable, but still pro-biodiesel guy on.
"Pure" biodiesel, working from memory of the show, is maybe about 92% efficient as diesel, yet costs more, something like $0.20/gal.
So it's at a distinct disadvantage just on those numbers. Then, for trucking, you figure that's more fueling stops,
plus some small margin for carrying the weight of inefficienct fuel.
I have no idea of production costs, or the performance of the 80/20 blend.
I pray someone here can come up with a photo of Miss Darryl Hannah, and not Willie........
I suspect Willie just wants to help his beloved farmers. He needs to realize the World has simply passed on by the inefficient family farmer, just as it has passed on by the inefficient mom-and-pop general stores, physicians who make house calls, and so forth. See the following for information on the inefficiency of biomass for fuel: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July05/ethanol.toocostly.ssl.html
"what are they going to do with all that glycerin?"
Alkyd resins, dynamite, ester gums, pharmaceuticals, plasticizer, cosmetics, foodstuffs, conditioning tobacco, liquers, solvent, printers ink, polyurethane polyols, emulsifying agent, rubber stamp & copying ink, binders for cement, lubricant & softener, bacteriostat, penetrant, hydraulic fluid, humectant, fermentation nutrients, anti-freeze.
It is also flammable, so maybe someone could work it into a fuel too.
and thru use of drugs we get to hear those such as Willie.
Ya gotta give it to old Willie----he's my age and he makes me blush for shame I am so dull and unimaginative.
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