B5 – what is it?

November 12, 2008 -- Filed under Clean Diesel by Andrew Macdonald

Guys, I know you are aware Volkswagen supports warranty on B5. But do you have any idea what exactly B5 means? Think of B5 like 5% alcohol beer. The bottle of beer is 95% water and 5% alcohol.

B5 diesel is a blend of 5% biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel. The biodiesel portion of the blend is derived from “bio” mass material (hence the name biodiesel), produced through a chemical process called transestrification. The biomass feedstock can be quite varied; ranging from soy beans to canola seeds, rendered animal products, and algae.

Biodiesel can be burned in any compression ignition (diesel) engine. In fact, the original patent on the diesel engine (Rudolph Diesel, 1897) was for an engine burning biodiesel derived from peanut oil.
So I guess you can say that after 100 years we are coming full circle! And that is great news. A B5 blended fuel has a number of benefits, both environmentally and mechanically.

From an environmental perspective, blended biodiesel reduces carbon, sulphur, hydrocarbons, and volatile organic compounds (the nasty lung stuff), not to mention particulate matter (PM) emitted from vehicle tailpipes.

In addition, biodiesel produced regionally reduces the transportation required to move an equivalent amount of liquid fossil fuel, further reducing the overall carbon footprint of the fuel and the demand for imported oil; the globe is currently consuming 85 million barrels a day!

There are positive regional economic impacts (the candidates in both US and Canadian elections this year promoted green job creation – something now referred to as “green collar jobs”). I found recent mainstream media coverage on the subject of green jobs both here in Canada and similar comments from an article “across the pond” in the Guardian out of the UK.

Are biofuels also an opportunity to limit the waste stream currently going into landfills? If the fuel is the next generation synthetic fuel, the answer is yes. Redirecting waste from landfills provides feedstock for processes such as biomass to liquid (BTL), and clean synthetic fuels from gas to liquid (GTL) refining, further reducing our carbon emissions beyond the tailpipe.

And what about the mechanical advantages? This one often comes as a surprise. Biodiesel is superior to petroleum diesel in an area that is the single most important factor impacting the operation and longevity of a diesel engine – lubricity.

Improving lubricity in diesel fuel through the addition of biodiesel will reduce engine wear as is noted by the Biofleet organization in Canada. In fact, ask any user of biodiesel and they will often tell you that even the sound of their engine has been impacted. I discounted comments like this until I began driving a diesel a few years back. I am now able to tell what fuel we are using (straight petroleum diesel or blended biodiesel) solely from the sounds produced by the idling engine. No kidding. If you drive a diesel and have access to certified biodiesel, give it a try. You will be doing more than simply reducing your impact on the air we all breathe!

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