Smells Like French Fries, Runs the Car; Earth-Friendly Biodiesel Catches
On

By BRIEN HEFLER

You've been following the car in front of you for miles. No matter where
you both go, you cannot escape a vague but persistent smell of French
fries. But nobody in the car ahead is eating anything. Hunger begins to
set in.

Blame Ralph Packer.

The R.M. Packer Company, which supplies all the Texaco stations on the
Island with fuel, began mixing and distributing biodiesel -- a fuel at
least partially derived from plants - from its facility on the Vineyard
Haven waterfront on Earth Day in 2004. The only type he sold was B-20,
so called because it blends 20 per cent vegetable oil (and a little
alcohol) with 80 per cent No. 2 fuel oil. But with the sharp increase in
the price of gasoline and diesel this summer, the market for alternative
fuels is growing stronger, and Mr. Packer plans at the end of this year
to meet the Island demand by supplying new and purer types of biodiesel.

The biodiesel sold on the Vineyard begins its life in the soybean fields
of the Midwest. There the crop is processed, loaded into railroad tank
cars and shipped as pure biodiesel - known as B-100 - to the Loud Fuel
Company in North Falmouth. Mr. Packer picks up the undiluted B-100 in a
tanker truck and ships it to the Island. Once here, the company blends
the pure biofuel with petrodiesel to produce B-20. Diesel trucks, cars
and even home heating systems can run - without modification - on all
types of biodiesel, but B-20 is the blend most distributors sell these
days, and until this week, it was the only type you could buy on the
Island. That's because the Packer company faced challenges mixing and
distributing it. Undiluted B-100 must be kept separate from all other
types of fuel. The trucks that carry B-100 must be flushed and cleaned
before they can transport it.

But Mr. Packer has taken delivery of a two-tank truck that will speed
the mixing and distribution - and even allow those who want to use B-100
the chance to buy and use the purest grade. The truck, built in 1988, is
in the Packer shop this week, being painted an environmental green and
made ready to deliver both types of biodiesel to filling stations,
commercial depots, and home heating oil tanks. (The Packer company will
begin to distribute B-10, a blend called bioheat, to homes in January.)

"We've been somewhat handicapped because of truck type. We have to take
the current truck out, flush it and put the biodiesel back in," Mr.
Packer said last week. "This way we will be able to put B-100 into one
unit and B-20 in the other unit and make a little more prompt
deliveries."

Biodiesel can come from many types of vegetables - even the fats and
oils left over from restaurant Fryolators. In the case of soybeans, the
bean is crushed in a process called transesterification. The juice from
the bean is blended with alcohol to produce pure biodiesel. (Glycerin is
a byproduct, and is often sold by biofuel manufactures to soap
producers.)

Until the end of August, when Hurricane Katrina knocked out oil
production in the Gulf of Mexico, B-20 - sold at the N.J. deBettencourt
and Sons service station on New York avenue in Oak Bluffs, and the
Texaco Shell station at the head of the harbor in Vineyard Haven -
looked forbiddingly expensive at $3.50 a gallon. But that price has
risen only six or seven cents this fall, as petrodiesel has climbed to
$3.21. With production in the Gulf still out, and wells in the Middle
East working at or near capacity, it is possible that certain grades of
biodiesel may soon cost less than the petro variety.

"That is certainly a possibility if diesel prices continue to climb,"
said Jenna Higgens, the director of communications for the National
Biodiesel Board, a nonprofit trade association in Missouri.

The cost of biodiesel turns mainly on the price of soybeans and the cost
to ship around the country. Since biodiesel is a relatively new
industry, demand is much lower than for traditional fossil fuels, which
makes transportation volumes low and costs high.

"The issue now is, think of a movement of millions of gallons of diesel
a day, and biodiesel transported [only] in the thousands. Right down
through the whole supply chain it's not high volume. But once it is, I
think you'll see the price go down," Mr. Packer said. Two biodiesel
plants are in the planning stages in Massachusetts, which is expected
help to increase production and lower costs here. Another biodiesel
plant, capable of distilling 30 million gallons per year, will soon be
built in Seabrook, Tex.

Ms. Higgens said sales have risen from 500,000 gallons in 1999, the
first year of large biodiesel production, to over 25 million gallons
last year. Buyers often share a particular concern for the environment
and have shown a willingness to pay more to protect it. B-100 cuts
carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emission by more than 50 per cent and
virtually eliminates sulfur emission.

Brendan O'Neill, executive director of the Vineyard Conservation
Society, helped launch the biodiesel program on the Island last year. He
fills up with B-20 on the Island, and this summer bought B-100 at the
Loud Fuel Company, located on Thomas Landers Road in Falmouth.

"It's best to run the B-100 if you really want to get the full biodiesel
smell and the satisfaction of knowing you're running on a renewable,
nontoxic, domestically produced alternative to diesel fuel," Mr. O'Neill
said. "On the Vineyard, with the Island nature of the place and the
importance that we put on the projection of our surface and groundwater,
it is a way, if it catches on, where we could be talking about keeping
pollutants out of the ponds, the harbors and, ultimately I guess, the
drinking water supply."

The Packer company has been using B-20 in its own trucks for seven
months. Nstar, the electric company, is also using it. Michael Duran,
spokesman for the firm, said workers generally prefer the B-20 to
straight diesel because it has a much better smell. Mr. O'Neill compares
it to the smell of a fast food restaurant. Mr. Packer thinks it's more
Italian.

"Maybe like olive oil," he said. "It feels like olive oil and it has a
very pleasant smell. I suppose you could probably burn olive oil in your
car too."

Biodiesel does have disadvantages. Pure biodiesel tends to congeal at
the same temperature water freezes - though the Loud company on the Cape
is looking at additives that may allow B-100 to be used at colder
temperatures. B-20 does not congeal, no matter how cold it gets.

"To give you an idea, they use B-20 at Glacier National Park [in
Montana] year-round," Ms. Higgens said.

Another concern: biodiesel can damage natural rubber, meaning it cannot
be used in most unmodified engines built before 1993, when many gaskets
were made of rubber. And the purest biodiesel acts as a solvent,
stirring up impurities left in older engines, which can cause filters to
clog. Ms. Higgens said for the first six months or so of biodiesel use,
engine filters and older oil tanks in the home should be checked
regularly.

And then there is the question of price. State and federal taxes add
about 45 cents per gallon to the price of biodiesel for road use. A
federal tax incentive, established this year, offers a dollar rebate for
every gallon of biodiesel purchased by blenders such as Mr. Packer, who
said he is trying to pass on the savings on to consumers.

Though the purchase of the new two-tank truck suggests a certain faith
in the emerging biodiesel market, Mr. Packer said last week that he is
not yet clear how much demand will grow on Martha's Vineyard.

"I don't know yet; people are becoming very conscious of the environment
and they are willing to spend a little more to accomplish this. I think
we are all trying to participate in energy conservation, and going in a
direction to relieve the great pressure on petroleum products; we are
trying to do our part."

Only time will smell.

Tom Dunlop contributed to this story.