Cars

Biofuels

Updated: 11 Dec 2007
Biofuels-hero

Introduction

Biofuel has arrived - but can it save the planet?

New Zealand's first approved biofuel has arrived in the form of Gull Force 10, and all oil companies will be required to sell biofuel from 2008.

We take a closer look at some of the issues involved, including claims of ethanol engine damage and lack of sustainability.

Gull Force 10

Gull's new Force 10 premium-grade petrol has out-boxed the heavyweights of the oil industry by qualifying as New Zealand's first approved biofuel.

It's a bold move by Gull in the face of opposition from the local representatives of Japanese car manufacturers. They say that 10 percent ethanol in petrol will damage the engines of our vast fleet of used Japanese imports.

Gull Force 10 is an E10 (10 percent ethanol; 90 percent gasoline) 98-octane blend. As at December 2007, it was available from 11 service stations in Auckland and the upper North Island. Over the next few months Gull plans to convert all its premium pumps (currently 95-octane) to this E10 98-octane blend. Gull also intends its blend to be a few cents cheaper than what the competition might offer.

Gull's Force 10 is aimed at owners of newer high-performance cars, which side-steps any problems it may have in older used imports. If you've got the right car, you'll get more power and possibly better economy.

Whether the car companies like it or not, biofuel is here to stay. The Biofuels Bill makes sure of that. The Bill's Biofuel Sales Obligation requires oil companies to sell biofuel from 2008 onwards, starting at a very low rate of just over half a percent of total sales and increasing to 3.4 percent by 2012.

What is biofuel?

Biofuel is a fuel suitable for cars and trucks, produced from renewable biological resources.

The source material can be any plant or animal material capable of being converted to a fuel. There seems to be few limits to this: scientists are working on using algae to create biodiesel from sewage in Blenheim.

But Gull has taken a faster route by using ethanol (the alcohol in wine, beer and spirits) from fermenting the sugars in the whey produced by our dairy industry. Using agricultural by-products or other biological waste to make biofuel helps us meet our greenhouse-gas reduction targets, and reduces our dependence on imported fuel.

Waste cooking oil is being converted to biodiesel in many small-scale plants here, and there are plans for larger-scale production using tallow from the meat industry. Blends of biodiesel, such as B5 (5 percent biodiesel added to standard diesel) are most likely to be offered.

Biofuels label

The biofuels label

This label (right) was introduced by the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA) to assure motorists that a fuel meets quality specifications and is suitable for use in their cars.

By the time the mandatory biofuel sales obligation is implemented, the government's Petroleum Products Specifications Regulations will also be altered to cover biofuel blends.

Ethanol scare-mongering

Tell the Brazilians that ethanol causes engine damage. They've been using ethanol fuels for years and many of their cars can run on pure ethanol.

Car technology now makes it possible for flex-fuel engines to run on petrol or ethanol or any mix of the two - the engine automatically adjusts the tuning to suit.

In the US, E10 is widely used because it helps improve fuel combustion and reduces emissions. Americans' Toyotas, Mitsubishis and Nissans have run for years on E10 without problems.

What's the risk?

The main case against ethanol blends is a Japanese study released by New Zealand's Motor Industry Association. This indicates that using more than 3 percent ethanol in petrol might cause corrosion damage in fuel systems.

The Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA) disputes this. It says the study used an artificially corrosive blend of fuel - the researchers added peroxide and used a blend without corrosion inhibitor. Adding corrosion inhibitor to E10 is common industry practice and will be mandatory in all fuels sold here that receive the EECA biofuel label.

Corrosion can happen in cars that run on petrol; the oil industry has used corrosion inhibitor in petrol for many years to minimise this. Gull adds a little extra inhibitor to its E10 blend just to be sure.

Gull says it's had only praise and no complaints about the E10 blend, and is rapidly converting its service stations. (Sorry, South Islanders - Gull has no plans to bring E10 to you.)

The government will shortly begin tests to show that used Japanese imports can run on blends of 5 to 10 percent ethanol (as long as corrosion inhibitor is also used). Five percent ethanol is the minimum level of ethanol that oil companies want to introduce.

What about biodiesel?

Biodiesel blends with up to 5 percent biodiesel are likely to meet less resistance from the motor industry - provided they're made to the Petroleum Products Specifications Regulations and qualify for the biofuels label (see What is biofuel?).

Biodiesel that doesn't have the biofuels label may be a problem for more sophisticated modern engines - and using non-label biodiesel or blends above 5 percent biodiesel will most probably invalidate your warranty. So check with your dealer first.

Fuels that meet the biofuels-label rules have to perform as well in very cold temperatures as ordinary diesel.

Is biofuel sustainable?

Critics say producing biofuel on a mass scale isn't feasible, because land that's used for producing food will be diverted to producing fuel feedstock.

That's true of the ethanol produced in the US from corn: corn prices have risen because of the demand for ethanol feedstock and so tortilla prices have gone up in Mexico. There are other reasons for rises in corn prices - such as greater demand in China and India and poor harvests because of drought.

In Brazil, sugar-cane feedstock is easy to grow and can return eight litres of ethanol for every one litre of fuel used in producing it. They're not felling the Amazon rain forest to grow sugar cane - the rain-forest areas have the wrong climate.

Palm oil is often used to make biodiesel and this is produced in some areas where rain forest is felled. Oil produced by members of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil is not from rain-forest areas.

Whey ethanol from New Zealand's dairy products is a start. But on its own, it can't significantly reduce our imported fuel bill. So the longer-term focus is on sustainable ways of producing biofuels, like harvesting willows planted where farm run-off contributes to lake water pollution, converting cellulose from forestry waste to ethanol and using other renewable sources such as sewage algae.

EECA says it's developing a sustainability "mark" for biofuels so consumers can identify those that are produced sustainably.

Tips for using ethanol fuel

  • Make sure your car is suitable - check the AA list on the Gull website. This list covers models new in New Zealand; but the Imported Motor Vehicle Dealers Association says that if your used import was designed to use 98-octane fuel then it'll be OK on Gull Force 10.

  • Look for the biofuels label to ensure good-quality fuel.

  • Make the first fill a full one, in case there's a small amount of water in your tank. Ethanol can cope with small amounts of water - but not with big amounts (it separates out and dissolves into the water).

  • Avoid very cold conditions while using the first fill. Water/ethanol mixtures can separate out in the tank or fuel lines more easily when it's very cold.


Where not to use ethanol fuel blends

Ethanol blends are not suitable for use in:

  • boats - because of potential water contamination
  • aircraft - because automotive fuels are not approved for aviation use
  • older (usually pre-1995) carburetted engines unless you get them retuned.
Other engines

It's OK to use ethanol blends in most small engines like lawnmowers and chainsaws. But make sure you don't leave the fuel tank empty - it creates condensation (the water/ethanol problem).

Tip: Refill the mower immediately after use. If the engine or fuel is stored for more than two months without use, you'll need to replace the fuel with fresh product. You should replace any sort of petrol after three months anyway, because it too deteriorates in storage.


More information


Report by Hamish Wilson