TDi Aces EPA Test by running 100% sunflower oil

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/02/v100_jetta_aces.html#more

Hope this is not a re-post...

Crazy...

Too bad these are fringe attempts and not main stream knowledge...

The Clean Air Act requires that vehicles be certified and meet emissions regulations of the model year of that vehicle. In this case, the tested car was a 2002 model, so it only had to meet the regulations that applied in 2002.



The limits for passenger cars in MY2002 are as follows:




Compare that to the limits for Tier2/Bin8 (obsolete end of MY2006) and Tier2/Bin5:


It's really nothing that special, and not particularly newsworthy, IMO.

Edited to add EPA Tier1 and Tier2 specs.

Thnaks for posting this info. It corresponds to emissions tests done by others onSVO converted TDI's in Europe and the US.

The best part is that the ignorant EPA will be without a reason to prevent PlantDrive an dothe rSVO kit makers from selling kits.

PS, canola isn't sunflower oil. It comes from rapeseed.

A couple kit makers have already passed stricter emissions test in Europe.
But is is a challenge. Ideally the requirements would be relaxed for sustainable fuels.

BioDiesel said:

The best part is that the ignorant EPA will be without a reason to prevent PlantDrive an dothe rSVO kit makers from selling kits.

Click to expand...

*That* is the important outcome of this test ...

BioDiesel said:

A couple kit makers have already passed stricter emissions test in Europe.
But is is a challenge. Ideally the requirements would be relaxed for sustainable fuels.

Click to expand...

The above test suggests no reason why the requirements should be relaxed. The regulated emissions are +/- the same, or if anything a tiny bit lower, on vegetable oil. If the car passes the emission regulation on diesel, then it should pass the emission regulation on vegetable oil, if it's done right. I gather that cold start is done on standard fuel, so no effect there.

Opps.

Sorry for the mistakes, Am still learning all the Jargon

I wonder if higly refined Algae Bio-D will yeild better emissions than SVO?

BioDiesel said:

(snip) The best part is that the ignorant EPA will be without a reason to prevent PlantDrive an dothe rSVO kit makers from selling kits. (snip)

Click to expand...

__. No, it's the ignorant owners who will buy the kits and wreck their engines. Engine in a bushel basket == no emissions == EPA happy.

Interesting info, thanks for posting.

What struck me was the CO2 emissions of 200-250 grams per mile... that's like half a pound!

Then I remembered a chemist friend pointing out that if your car gets 20 mpg, your odometer reads approximately in pounds of CO2 emitted over life.

So the great thing about the biofuel, is that the CO2 emitted was in the atmosphere a year or so ago... not 250 million years ago. That bargraph would look even better if I depicted net CO2 emissions!

Eddy

mrGutWrench said:

__. No, it's the ignorant owners who will buy the kits and wreck their engines. Engine in a bushel basket == no emissions == EPA happy.

Click to expand...

Well ... perhaps it will be ignorant owners who buy kits other than the one tested, that have had insufficient research and development done, but are cheaper, who will wreck their engines.

If there has been enough development done on the kit to validate it for emission testing, then it ought to be tested enough to validate it for warranty purposes.

I totally agree that a one-time-test like this is a whole different matter from passing the 120,000 mile emission component durability test. *That* would tell the tale on whether the system holds up or not. A true certification would have to include that test.

If you read the posts on Greencarcongress, this system has several temperature sensors and has automatic change-over between the start-up fuel and the running fuel. One big trouble with cheaper systems is the lack or inadequacy of such systems.

The things to look for in a vegetable oil kit are (1) maintaining the vehicle's emission certification, and (2) taking over the manufacturer's warranty on the engine and the fuel injection system - not just the vegetable-oil related parts, but the whole thing.

Elsbett does this, for example, and there are two other manufacturers, all from Europe. This is another manufacturer doing (hopefully) something similar.

I agree totally that it's false to assume that a cheap next-step-up-from-homegrown Greasecar kit will pass the same testing procedure. And those are definitely a taillights-down-the-road warranty, too.

mrGutWrench said:

__. No, it's the ignorant owners who will buy the kits and wreck their engines. Engine in a bushel basket == no emissions == EPA happy.

Click to expand...

The new ZEMV vehicle . Hey I bet this one is even CARB certified

Looks to be about the same as diesel to my untrained eye.......

"Looks to be about the same as diesel to my untrained eye......."

it is. You missed EddyKilowatt's point.
SVO and WVO are near carbon-neutral, meaning next to no net CO2 emissions.
And that has significant global warming implications.
Imagine an auto maker that could claim "98% drop in global warming emmisions"


If the chart read net CO2 , not CO2, the ULSD would be 'way up here'
and the V100 would be close to 0.

Europe just passsed CO2 emissions requirements for cars.
It would be really nice if they instead measured net CO2, but thats hard to enforce. For now SVO users will just have to content themselves with the $2/gallon saving over petro.

It's also worthwhile to point out that at 2.37 g/mile ( 140 g/ km ) , it meets the new European 2012 standard for CO2 emmissions NOW!

The whole POINT is that the various regulated emissions were not adversely affected. There has been all sorts of speculation in the past about how vegetable oil fuels cause poor combustion, etc. This test shows that this is not necessarily so.

Now, let's see about that 120,000 mile emission component durability test ... ! ! !