I'm not talking about petroleum refining, I'm talking about biodiesel made from vegetable oil. I'm not only well intentioned, but I'm very knowledgeable about biofuels. various vegetable oils have different cloudpoints, all higher than petroleum diesel. Therefore they gel sooner, requiring a thinner like kerosene when the temperature drops.
if you're so knowledgeable, why are you comparing petrodiesel ( an extensively refined product) to crude vegetable oil (not refined). Apples to Oranges.
Many crude petro's gels sooner (= higher temperature) than many crude veg oils.
would you be willing to prove that your students are competant at their hobby.... by going aloft in an airplane that is solely fueled by stuff they brewed in your backyard after one of your seminars?
I'm not comparing to crude vegetable oil. You are confused. I'm comparing diesel fuel available at the tanks, to biodiesel at the tanks. Diesel fuel has better cold weather performance. Do you have any idea what you are talking about?
yes, biodiesel gels at warmer temps than diesel
who is talking about crude?
absolutely.
>
Last time I checked there weren't and diesel powered aircraft in Private Aviation, and getting VeggieOil to run out of a wing tank at -30F would seem problematic, at best..........
Me
Actually, Zoche
Similar engines have also been used in a number of airships, although of course the consequences of engine loss in a lighter-than-air craft aren't quite as severe or immediate.
--scott
I believe there's at least one in Europe, not yet approved in the US.
Nick
We weren't discussing veggieoil, we were discussing biodiesel. Any jet engine will run fine on biodiesel. I would have no problem putting a small diesel in a cesna and running it on our biodiesel. tank heaters or kerosene blends resolve the gelling issue.
Except for the FAA Certifacation required to install an Experimental Engine, and then do the REQUIRED flight testing to get an Airworthyness Certificate, for the engine. Then after that, you would need to redesign the whole fuel system for Low Temp Operations and then flight test that up in alaska, in winter, to get it Certified as well. No, Not something that wuld be even approchable for the experimenter in this life.
Me You just can't get away with that kind of stuff with the FAA...
There is a GIANT difference between Biodiesel and Jet50-A, when it comes to fuel flow at -30F......
Me
Alaska?.......You don't have hands on with aircraft do you. Other wise ,you would know that up ,at least for civil aircraft. It is colder in flight than tied down at the airport. At commerical aircraft alitudes.....around 30000ft roughly. It is -60F even in the summer over a desert. Since all of them that I have seen are supercharged in some fashion and diesel will burn at leaner ratios than gas engines. We are talking piston planes that will fly up to commerical altitudes. Not normally done in a gas piston plane...... And that air worthiness testing on the diesels started ten years ago..... in otherwords they are nesr done on the testing. As to fuel oil working in a turbine or diesel. JetA (treated kerosene, at risk of oversimple statement.)set the standard on that ....and is the reference for additives and precautions for diesel and biodiesel fuel system and operation. In most areas ...you make more process, adding to existing data than starting from scratch.
Nope, we are talking a small Cessna (smaller than a 207) refitted with some small mythical 50-100HP diesel engine, and no one said anything about turbocharged, as most of these planes are NOT tubocharged. flight levels of less than 10,000 feet, due to most of these planes not being pressurized, or with Oxygen fitted.
These are the perameters that the OP, Steve, implied when he stated "cesnna" in the original post.....
Me flew a clipped wing Taylorcraft in a previous life......
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