1. Home
  2. General Toyota Forum
  3. {OT} The deep green sea

{OT} The deep green sea

Here's a data point on how biodiesel seems to be spreading, as reported on BBC-tv today (14 Nov)...

The UK city of Grimsby is home port to trawler "Jubilee Quest" (reg GY900) which has been doing extended trials of vegetable oil as her engine fuel, rather than conventional mineral diesel.

A typical 10-day fishing trip produces around 37 tons of CO2, the big "greenhouse gas". Conversion to "dual fuel" capability means those tons are in a closed recycling loop: plants fix atmospheric CO2; oil is extracted from the plants; the oil burns to make CO2, which plants then fix again. Mineral diesel releases carbon that was locked away countless years ago but now enters the atmosphere as an extra burden.

"Jubilee Quest" goes to sea with three tanks of vegetable oil and one of mineral diesel. The captain reports the system has worked reliably, with no evident loss of power. If necessary, the type of fuel in use can be changed at the flick of a switch.

Much of the conversion concerned how to handle the relatively viscous vegetable oil. A special pump raises it from low-level tanks. Two heat exchangers warm it with otherwise waste engine heat, to thin it enough to be burned in the (19 litre?) engine. The trials are using fresh oil but the plan is to graduate to waste oils, some of them thick as butter at room temperatures.

At this point, politics come into play. UK fishing vessels pay no duty (tax) on their fuels -- whereas ashore the *.gov.uk, in a brilliant example of how-to-lose-the-plot-entirely, has made the duties on biodiesel only some 20p/litre less than 47p/litre paid on mineral diesel. Burning fresh oil would not be cost effective at today's prices; but recycled oils are good contenders; and the environmental aspect is a big plus, if only the law-makers can be persuaded to take it seriously.

That's it for now. The BBC website may have more, under their "Working Lunch" programme section.

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson
Loading thread data ...

Interesting but a sailing trawler would be greener still.

I admit, time is money when there's fish in the hold they'd need an engine to be sure they could land the catch still fresh but sails could help under many conditions.

Reply to
DH

I think the dangers of trawling would be exacerbated by being under sail or kite power due to the difficulty in stopping said power in an emergency. I think the saving would be relatively minimal also, without HUGE sails - the forces involved are massive and would require bigger boats and more fuel to transport the sails on the way out. BioD is the way forward, or at least fuel from renewable oils.

Reply to
Coyoteboy

When the wind is directly against you, sure, there's little advantage to sail but under wind conditions where the wind is more than a few points off the bow, wind power should be significantly useful. Modern reliable weather forecasting and computer controls should make it possible to chart the most economical course (in terms of time, wages, capital cost and fuel consumed) to cruise to and from a fishing spot and save money over a purely motorized ship. Reliable weather forecasting can make an even greater contribution... if you can plot a course to take advantage of future changes of wind, more efficient trips are possible.

With the era of cheap oil, the additional cost of equipping a ship for sailing and training the crew to sail probably wasn't worth it. As oil has risen, there's probably some resistance to sail because it's an unfamiliar technology. There are other drawbacks, too. For example, a boat without a sailing mast will fit under more bridges.

I don't share your skepticism... the British built a world-girdling empire using sailboats.

Reply to
DH

I'm sorry but thats an oxymoron - I watch weather forecasts and scan the charts daily (kitesurfer, like to know how the wind lies so i know whether to shift my work to night time and take a morning surfing!) and if theres one thing the weather forecasting isnt and thats reliable. I've lost count of the number of times ive had 20kt westerlies forecast and ended up with 10kt southerlies. As far as i remember I've only managed to get an accurate wind forecast 4 times in the last 11 months.

I think its a good idea in theory, i just dont think its practical. Boats with masts require different hull designs including giant keels that make them less efficient under engine power - at best you'd equal out running costs and crank up development costs and increase the complexity (rigging etc) for the crew.

J
Reply to
Coyoteboy

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.