B20 available in Hampton Roads
- From: "Blue Ridge Clean Fuels" <brcfi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "VA Biofuels Forum list" <biofuels-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 09:17:53 -0400
A cleaner diesel soon will appear at a gas station near you
By TOM HOLDEN, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 6, 2006
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=107132&ran=116323
Biodiesel, a cleaner burning fuel made from a combination of regular diesel
and vegetable oils or animal fats, will debut at eight Hampton Roads filling
stations later this month.
No high-flying banners or free sodas are planned for the rollout, but one
distributor, Buddy Ivey of Domestic Fuels & Lubes , said Wednesday that any
chance for Americans to ease their dependence on foreign energy is "long
overdue."
Ivey showed off two pumps at a BP station on North Witchduck Road in
Virginia Beach where, he said, the fuel will go on sale the week of July 16.
"We have an obligation to customers and the community to do this," said
Ivey, a sales manager for the Chesapeake fuels company. "It's the right
thing to do, the progressive thing to do. It's doing something about energy
independence rather than just sitting here and talking about it."
Biodiesel is expected to sell for a few cents more per gallon than regular
diesel, which on Wednesday was averaging $2.84 a gallon in Hampton Roads,
according to the American Automobile Association. Gasoline was selling for
$2.92 .
Biodiesel is made by chemically mixing vegetable oils, recycled cooking
grease or animal fats, with alcohol, and then blending about 20 percent of
the mixture with 80 percent of regular petroleum-based diesel, according to
the U.S. Department of Energy.
The fuel can run in any diesel engine and does not require engine
modifications, according to an on line Energy Department fact sheet.
Biodiesel has been available elsewhere in Virginia and the nation,
especially along routes frequented by truckers.
"Hampton Roads has finally caught up with the rest of the country," Ivey
said.
Using biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine "substantially" reduces
emissions of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and the sooty
by-products common to diesels, according to the Energy Department.
Rep. Thelma Drake, R-Virginia Beach, was on hand to support energy
diversity. To help underscore her interest in new technology, she brought
along a hydrogen-powered SUV courtesy of General Motors.
She said investing in renewable fuels such as biodiesel, which is usually
made from soybeans, is important if the country is to move toward greater
energy independence.
Drake also supports drilling off the East Coast for oil and natural gas.
Her Democratic opponent in the November congressional election, Phillip
Kellam , has criticized offshore drilling.
Ivey said he wanted to start selling the biodiesel blend sooner, but recent
rains had delayed installing the fiberglass linings needed to prepare his
company's tanks for storing the fuel.
Consumption of diesel fuel by passenger vehicles is a distant second to
gasoline in Hampton Roads, where the primary market is for truckers,
municipalities, and the marine and rail industries.
Geeta Patel, who with her husband, Vijay , helps run the BP station on North
Witchduck, where about 4,000 gallons of diesel is sold each month , expects
strong customer interest in biodiesel.
"We all need something like this with the gas prices so high," she said.
Reach Tom Holden at(757) 446-2331 or tom.holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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