Grease is the Word

Biodiesel, low-sulfur diesel and other cleaner fuels will reduce air pollution It sounds like a weird blend of the futuristic cartoon, “The Jetsons,” with the 1978 musical “Grease.” A dude with a butch-waxed hairdo pulls into a fast food drive-through and says “Gimme a burger and fries — oh, and just top off the tank with high-fat.”

The second fatty fuel order is for the car, not the voracious teen appetite. And this scenario isn’t far out, it’s surprisingly close at hand. Used French-fry oil is just one possibility in a movement toward new and alternative fuels that may reduce air pollutants from vehicles by 77 percent or more within this decade.

Changes in federal and state laws, as well as strong advocacy by groups ranging from soybean farmers to the American Lung Association, are converging to make one type of air pollution, the noxious smoke of diesel trucks and buses, as outdated as white sidewall tires.

Diesel: the hardworking engine
In the U.S., only one percent of onroad vehicles are diesel-powered. A diesel engine doesn’t need a spark for ignition. It only needs tremendous compression of air, up to twice the compression needed to start a car. Achieving this compression requires a larger and heavier engine block, but there are benefits; diesel engines are more efficient and durable than gasoline engines. That’s one reason why diesel vehicles do society’s heavy lifting of materials and people.

However, these big rigs emit more than their share of air pollutants. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) estimates that from one-quarter to one-third of Minnesota’s air pollution comes from “mobile sources,” including cars, trucks, buses, construction equipment and other gasoline- and diesel-burning vehicles. An older, dirty diesel vehicle can emit almost eight tons of air pollutants each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

One reason is the fuel.
Diesel is heavier, oilier and less refined than gasoline. Less refining makes it cheaper. For petroleum, less refining also makes for grittier, fouler emissions. We’ve all seen thick black smoke coming from trucks or buses; what we’re seeing is large quantities of fine particles (fine particles are about one-fiftieth the width of a human hair).

Fine particles are known to be unhealthy for the heart and lungs. The EPA reports that, nationwide, fine particles like those found in diesel exhaust cause 15,000 premature deaths every year. The EPA also agrees with the American Cancer Society’s assessment that particles in diesel exhaust are likely carcinogens. Of course, diesel isn’t the only fuel with a darker side.

Air pollution from fossil fuels (including petroleum, coal and natural gas) can harm people in many ways, from triggering asthma and heart attacks to causing cancer. Two major studies in the 1990s (Harvard Six Cities in 1993 and American Cancer Society study, 1995 updated 2002) found that death rates from cancer and cardiopulmonary disease were considerably higher in cities with more air pollution. In June 2004, the American Heart Association warned that fine particle air pollution, largely due to burning fossil fuels, increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Even though Minnesota is currently in attainment with federal air-quality standards for fine-particle and ozone pollution, that attainment is a balancing act. Air pollution eliminated due to progress in cleaner-burning fuels, pollution control equipment and voluntary industry action is offset by more people driving more miles in vehicles with poor gas mileage. The number of vehicles registered in Minnesota grew from three million in 1983 to four-and a- half million in 2003. The number of miles Minnesotans drove almost doubled during the same time period, from 30 billion in 1983 to 55 billion miles in 2003. More vehicles driving more miles add up to more air pollution, even if some cars are cleaner now than 20 years ago.

The strategies to reduce air pollution from mobile sources are simple: improve the fuels, improve the vehicles, and improve the choices we all make about driving and transporting goods. Changes in new fuel formulation, development and availability are on a fast track in Minnesota.

Why bother with fuel alternatives?

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture compared fuels to assess which ones provide the most energy “bang for the buck” in combustion engines. The amount of energy needed to develop or process the fuel is compared to the actual BTUs of energy that the fuels yield. A score of 1.00 would mean that the energy yield is exactly equal to the energy put into the processing. Both ethanol and biodiesel beat the petroleum products. *British Thermal Units

We’re used to petroleum-based fuels. Our transportation options have been built upon them for years. Why look to improve and diversify the types of fuels we’re using? The public health impacts previously described are compelling, but economics is another driver.

(Public health and economics converge with estimates of health-care costs associated with air pollution. See “Green Highways” in this issue for one view of the price tag on air pollution- related illness.)

The higher the price of petroleum, the more attractive alternatives become, as most of us who visit the local Gas ‘N Go can testify. Petroleum price is tied to availability. The U.S. Geological Survey’s World Petroleum Assessment 2000 estimates that world oil is plentiful, an estimated 649 billion barrels (outside of the U.S. ). Sounds great, assuming the oil is easy and cheap to obtain. But it’s not.

Buried within the earth — and beneath the oceans — some oil is difficult to reach without expensive technology. Additionally, oil is located in parts of the world not known for stability. North America has barely five percent of the world’s oil. The politically volatile Middle East holds 65 percent.

Even with an unlimited supply of oil, the U.S. may not have the refining capacity to keep up with the demand. Michael D. Tusiani, a senior fellow at Columbia University ’s Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy, estimates that the U.S. will use 9.2 million barrels of oil a day in 2005. “One way or another, consumption is going to stop growing,” he wrote in the Washington Post, “The only thing we can control is how hard we hit the supply barrier.”

The world is not using oil at a steady rate, either. The U.S. is the top guzzler, but China, India and other developing countries have huge and growing appetites for oil. As world demand and competition increase, prices rise. The meatloaf option One way to reduce harmful emissions and use the existing oil supply more efficiently is by using the “meatloaf” option: stretch costly and high-emissions fuel using something cheaper, renewable or less polluting. Meatloaf-making moms have fed large families this way for decades, adding cheap breadcrumbs to “stretch” the more expensive ground beef. Stretching the petroleum fuel with a low-emissions and lower-cost additive translates to better air quality.

One successful example is biodiesel. It’s used in ordinary diesel vehicles and already is giving us the benefits of reduced air pollution. Biodiesel is produced from animal fat or soybean, peanut or other vegetable oil. Some people think engines burning biodiesel smell like popcorn — or French fries.

Basic 100-percent biodiesel is similar to the cooking oil on your kitchen shelf. It contains no petroleum and is nontoxic. Biodiesel can be used as a pure fuel alone, or can be blended with regular diesel fuel in any percentage. Two-percent (B2) and 20-percent (B20) are common mixtures. Any diesel engine can use biodiesel without modifications, up to B20. The fuel, like grease, congeals at lower temperatures, so an additive and heated storage during cold temperature months is recommended by a University of Minnesota study. The greater the percentage of biodiesel, the cleaner the vehicle’s emissions.

How much can just switching diesel engines to a B20 biodiesel blend reduce air pollutants? According to the EPA, a switch to B20 would reduce carbon monoxide by 12 percent, fine particles by 12 percent, and ozone-forming hydrocarbons by 10 percent. Only nitrogen oxides would increase, by two percent. Using the fuel in newer diesel engines or retrofits may help lower NOX.

All fuels must be refined, processed or, in the case of renewable fuels, created from raw materials. This requires input of energy (electricity, natural gas, coal, oil) that offsets the energy yield of the fuel itself. Biodiesel looks like the winner in the “most energy bang for the buck” category. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture calculated the energy life of various fuels, with biodiesel coming out on top.

In 2002, Minnesota became the first state to pass a law requiring diesel fuel to contain two-percent biodiesel (called B2) by July 2005. The law is just a beginning, but the state isn’t waiting around for the deadline. As this magazine goes to press, B2 biodiesel is available at more than two dozen locations in Minnesota. (For a current list, see the National Biodiesel Board Web site.) Three facilities in Greater Minnesota are gearing up to produce the fuel. And those government and private entities already using biodiesel in their fleets are taking the change in stride.

Greasing the skids
Nothing says reliability like a snowplow clearing impassible city streets of an overnight avalanche. Hennepin County tested B20 in snowplows for three winters without incident. The county will spend $650,000 for biodiesel fuel in 2005. “Vendors are key to the success of using biodiesel,” says Dana Albers, who worked with Hennepin County on the project. “You have to make sure you can get the fuel in the quantity and blend you need.”

The city of Brooklyn Park uses B20 in all diesel vehicles, including snowplows and fire trucks. City officials didn’t tell drivers about the switch. Mike Taylor, Alternative Fuels Coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Commerce State Energy Office, says, “No one noticed a performance difference; Brooklyn Park has had no problems in nearly two years of year-round operation on B20.” If biodiesel is so great for heavy-duty trucks and buses, will it work for gasoline-powered passenger vehicles? Our neighbors across the pond are way ahead of us; approximately 35 percent of European highway vehicles are diesel powered using cleaner diesel fuels (low sulfur or biodiesel).

“A lot of us are optimistic that diesels can be as clean as a passenger car,” says Frank O’Donnell, executive director of the Clean Air Trust, “but we’ll have to see how it plays out.” Among the U.S. passenger vehicles currently available in diesel models are the Chevrolet Silverado, Dodge Ram, Ford F-250, Hummer H1, Jeep Liberty, Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan and the Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat.

So the time may come sooner than anyone imagined when you’ll wow your friends not with your gas guzzler, but with your grease-guzzler. To paraphrase Danny Zuko, the leather-clad hero of “Grease,” the new “systematic, hydromatic, ultramatic” clean fuels could catch on like greased lightnin’!”