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Filter contamination. Photo courtesy of Innospec. the company offers in year-round and winter formulations. Both feature agents to burn excess water and stabilize fuel to keep it fresh, while the winter formula includes anti-gell- ing agents for both the biodiesel and the convention diesel components of a bioblend fuel. "In the wintertime it's a given that you must additize biodiesel," affirms Dries van Wagenberg, head of marketing for Fuel Right. "After that, the additives you decide to use are a judgment call based on the quality of the fuel." Another issue that additives can address is the tendency of biodiesel to attract more water than conventional diesel, a tendency which in turn provides more opportunities for bacteria to grow. "Water is always a problem with any diesel fuel," states Tatnall, "even just from handling and trans- portation." That being the case, the presence of biodiesel exacerbates the challenge. Then, too, because biodiesel "comes from oils that are nat- ural, edible products, the fuel is even more attractive to bacte- ria," says FPPF's Guerra. "Add that to the presence of water, and you can get a higher incidence of bacterial contamina- tion." He says the company's Biodiesel Fuel Power additive "is unique because it eliminates water." And at Innospec, Vrzak notes that biodiesel users can employ its Dritek additive as a water dispersant and Predator 6000 as a biocide. Biodiesel's origin as a natural oil also leads to stability problems over time since the fuel "can go rancid in just four to six weeks—just like butter that's left out too long—if it sits in an engine or a fuel storage tank ," explains Guerra. www.npnweb.com n NPN Magazine Microbal growth in biodiesel. Photo courtesy of Innospec. The Biodiesel Fuel Power additive from FPPF contains a stabilizer to keep biodiesel fresh in storage, while Innospec offers its own solution in the Biostable 403E product. Finally, Guerra notes that biodiesel has a strong deter- gent effect when used for the first time in an engine so that loosened matter can plug fuel filters. "That solvent effect," concurs Fuel Right's Tatnall, "can create a panic." One way to address the problem, advises Vrzak, is by additizing biodiesel with a dispersant such as the Ecoclean product from Innospec. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS Discussion about biodiesel, suggests Tatnall, should take into account the pure B100 is uncommon and that biodiesel in the United States is most often blended into conventional diesel to make motor fuels such as B5, B10, and B20. "The western world," he believes, "isn't ready for B100." Bioblends may be driven by state mandates to increase usage of renewable fuels. "But because the quality of biodie- sel can vary," Tatnall continues, "one load of bioblend can be good and then the next load can be bad. And you might not know it, since biodiesel is sometimes added to conven- tional diesel without a user's knowledge. That's a concern when a bad load can cost you $50,000 in disposal costs and downtime." Tatnall tells the story of a North Carolina renewable fuels mandate that led to widespread use of B20 in state government vehicles. But when the next winter arrived, MARCH 2012 19