Morrisons B30 Bio-Diesel 'Here we go'

[Livewire Frontera]

Well diesel has hit 103ppl here so i think i will be going on it next week

[awdriver96]

Go to sunny Preston only 98 - 99.9 there and the bio stuff is only a penny or so cheaper.
Mike

[stu]

diesel is 99.9 in bellshill , near glasgow . its going up again .

[Amarok]

2 months down the line guy's and still running OK
last week I did nearly 500 miles on the stuff towing a twin axle caravan up and down the Yorkshire dales, and there were some bloody steep hills ! the temp never went more that a tad over 1/4, there was bags of bottom end power, no smoke the only problem on the return journey was a blown exhaust and that was down to rust, so I can't blame B30 for that !
I have now done about 9 - 10 tankfulls All with B30, fuel economy is still good, nice quiet motor (even more quiet with the new exhaust) still starts on the button and I have noticed the engine oil is staying much cleaner than it did on straight diesel prior to B30 after only 1500 - 2000 miles the oil was black I did a oil change before I started this experiment and I am coming up to 4000 miles now on B30 and the oil is a muddy wheat colour

Not much more I can say on the B30 front I will continue to use the stuff as at the moment it is saving me money (approx £10 per week) which I feel is pretty good out of a 13 year old Fronty with 146,000 miles on the clock. If I put the £40 per month in a savings account If it all went horribly wrong I could afford a replacement fronty every 6 months or a good replacement 2.5 diesel !

This stuff has been the saviour of my fronty if I couldn't get better economy out of the old girl and as she is my only means of transport, I would have had to go for the expensive option of a company car and had to wave bye to the beast as I couldn't afford 2 vehicles.
The next mountain for my Fronty is the MOT next friday, I pulled the parking brake on and she just creaked and continued to roll so it will be rear disc's off this weekend and a good clean, grease and adjust
This will be my final report on the B30 Bio Diesel as I feel I have achieved what I had set out to do that was to see if a 2.5 TDS would run on Morrisons B30, for me it has worked and if the old girl lasts another year I would have saved around £500 on fuel alone which will go nice for my late model V6 Fronty next year ??

Happy motoring Chaps

Mike
Peterborough

[Amarok]

Well here I am still running on B30 with no problems, 5 months down another 500 miles caravan towing and the temp needle didn't reach half way . Motor is smooth and quiet with no horror stories of fuel pumps packing in. The oil is still wheat colour
IMHO well done Morrisons it looks like they have a happy mix of bio and mineral and the 2.5 loves it

[awdriver96]

This is a scientific rather than a subjective view.

The EU wants to add more biofuel to petrol and diesel. Will my car run on higher biofuel blends?

Existing cars have been designed for fuels that meet the standards of the EU Fuels Directive in force (98/70/EC). The Directive provides for a maximum biofuel content of 5% in diesel or petrol. However, in March 2007, the European heads of state agreed to a target of 10% biofuels use in transport by 2020. This target would be achieved by blending higher levels of biofuels in petrol and diesel.

To help achieve this target, ACEA has committed that by 2010, all new European car models will run on B7 or E10.

However, a great number of cars used today will not run properly if fuelled with biofuel blends higher than 5% or on pure biofuels. Biofuels have different chemical and physical attributes than conventional fuels. If engine materials and fuel injection are not adapted to using biofuels or biofuel blends, cars can experience a variety of performance problems or even engine failure. The fuels of today must therefore remain available at the filling station and all fuels should be clearly labelled at the pump so the customer knows what he is buying.

In an engine, unburnt fuels will by-pass the piston rings and enter the lubricating oil in the engine sump. Normally this is not a problem with fuel hydrocarbons joining oil hydrocarbons (and the fuel evaporates). However, with biodiesel, the bio-components in the diesel entering the lubricating oil system will cause degradation in lubricating oil performance which will likely mean more frequent oil drain intervals. The higher the biodiesel blend, the greater the effect - the effect is increased for modern diesel engines that are equipped with particulate filters to meet more stringent emission standards. These filters require regeneration of the collected particulates and those systems using an additional controlled injection of fuel will show additional effects.

Consumers must continue to have access to today’s fuels for some time to come. Retrofitting their engines to be compatible with changes in fuel specifications is not affordable and not justified. The fuels of today should thus stay available, and all fuels should be clearly labelled at the pump.

In contrast to today’s biodiesel and bioethanol, cars will run well using higher blends of second-generation biofuels because the quality of advanced biofuels and compatibility with vehicles will be higher.

Be aware that this is for vehicles made after 2006, fronteras were never designed to run on biofuel and they do eventually fail in one way or another. It will be harder to get straight diesel after the 26th of this month when most suppliers will be supplying the 2.5% added biofuel for both petrol and diesel cars, but there have been massive problems all over Europe that they are trying to keep the lid on, particularly rapid corrosion of all the metal parts of petrol fuel systems as well as diesel ones. So much so that a friend in the trade went to a fuel company presentation where they said they categorically keep it out of the refinery systems and only add it at tanker fill up as it would cost them millions in system damage!!!
You have been warned!
Mike

[jmc]

Thank you for this extremely informative post.

[jellybaby]

need a gunnie pig for the 2.8 now not me though dont thing there happy on any bio fuel though but could be wrong

[midlandgardencare]

Good afternoon Matthew

Thank you for your email.

I have spoken to the Petrol department regarding your enquiry, they have offered the following comments:-

Morrisons no longer sells E85 Bio-ethanol petrol or B30 Bio-diesel.
In the budget of 2010 the chancellor removed the duty derogation that permitted the products to be sold at competitive prices.

Morrisons unleaded and diesel is supplied to us by nearly every one of the refiners and blenders that operate in the UK.
We source locally from established and reputable refiners and blenders
Our fuels are manufactured and guaranteed to British Standard EN228 and EN590, precisely the specifications that will be found
in all vehicle manuals. These current specifications permit upto 5% renewable content in petrol, ethanol, and upto 7% renewable
Content in diesel, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (vegetable oil).
European law requires all road fuels to contain such renewable feed stocks.

Currently Morrisons sells 10% of all motor fuels sold in the UK to motorists, fleet operators, hauliers, local authorities and to our own staff.

The quality of our products is not to be doubted.

I do hope this answers your concerns.
Kindest regards,
--
Dawn
Customer Services Department
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC

[yaki]

Still running the Freelander and Frontera on Bio, not straight Bio but would be classed as B75 (25% diesel 75% Bio)

Freelander is the 2l Rover Diesel with the VP37 Bosch pump (same as 2.5 Frontera), 12 months and 10000 miles and no problems

Frontera 2.8, 18 months and 6000 miles and no problems

What I buy is not Waste or New Veg oil but proper Bio Diesel

Freelander is now going to make way for my new project, P38 Range Rover 2.5 Diesel and this too is going on Bio

[Drift]

I would try Bio in the 2.8 if there where reliable and trusted outlets near me but I wouldnt go near WVO or new oil

[midlandgardencare]

i have spent quite a bit of today e-mailing local suppliers listed online as bio suppliers and all that have replied have said they no longer supply it. there is obviously a demand for it but i'm wondering wether the fuel giants feel threatened and are buying up the waste oil through subsidiaries.

[Drift]

Waste oil is now collected for industry and now even the airline companies are on the case and buying it up, there is a big demand through industry for the product and many companies have sprung up to collect and supply this demand, we, the normal car user will not get a look in, well not at any reasonable price anyway.

[midlandgardencare]

my uncle runs a large pub/resturant and a few years ago i used to collect the waste oil from him and filter it i didn't go as far as processing it into bio diesel. i'm now living in my caravan and don't have the room to do so. if i had the room then i'd make bio-diesel. it would be finically viable as i wouldn't need to pay him for the oil but i would want to get a http://greenfuels.co.uk/product/fuelpod-2.aspx.

[Drift]

What you would have been making is WVO (Waste Veg Oil) usually filtered down to 1 micron.
The Bio fuel would need all kinds of additives and other filtration processes to a level of BS standard, this would nsure no fatty acids or water was left after the process.

[midlandgardencare]

i know i was. i didn't have the time or the desire to get into mixing chemicals and rinsing etc as i was filtering it In my kitchen as the house i was in didn't have a garden. i did add a bit saying "i didn't go as far as processing it into bio diesel"

[drinksoptional]

cannot complain about bio diesel i have no issue on bio just veg oil it hates . my morrision dont do the bio diesel at 30% on 7 %

[midlandgardencare]

yeah as you see above i e-mailed morrisons direct for an answer. i use my vehicle for work aswell as pleasure a i'm self employed, the fuel prices of any practical vehicle are crippling most businesses. any saving i can make to my running costs will help ensure i have a business left in a month or 6.

[drinksoptional]

i have a place near me Apple fuels that do the bio for 1.09p and i have never had an issue with thier fuel. They seem to procces it them selves

[midlandgardencare]

i wish it was a bit closer, i'm a few hundred miles away. most of the places round here have closed. i did go to one place about 4 years ago for what was being sold as bio-diesel but i watched him pouring it the last time i went and it was a rather dirty looking golden black colour and looked quite thick for what i would expect bio-diesel to look like