Biofuel and biodiesel have become common terms during the past 15 years. We know there is an interest in using biofuels with Perkins engines. For anyone not familiar with biofuels and biodiesel, we have put together a short guide as well as explaining which types of biodiesel you can use in our engines.
‘Standard’ diesel is petroleum based. It’s non-renewable and comes from oil. Biofuels, on the other hand, primarily come from plants and are viewed as renewable fuel and energy sources.
There are several types of biofuels including:
Other sources for biofuels include used cooking oil, rapeseed (Canola) and soybean oil.
The availability and uptake of biofuels varies from country to country. In the U.S., biodiesel has proved popular as the country has worked to reduce its dependence on petroleum oil, much of which is imported. According to the U.S. Energy Department’s monthly biodiesel report, in June 2014 alone, 70 million gallons of B100 (100 percent biodiesel) was sold and an additional 41 million gallons of biodiesel blended with diesel fuel derived from petroleum. With blending, biodiesel is not replacing petroleum diesel but is instead extending the availability of the limited resource. In the UK, the government estimates that renewable fuel makes up around 3.7 percent of total road and non-road mobile machinery fuel, which is around 474 million litres per year.
Biodiesel is available in a variety of concentrations. The names indicate the level of biodiesel in the product relative to petroleum diesel.
Our recommendation is to operate our industrial engines using a B20 biodiesel blend. This has been confirmed with our in-house validation process following tests on the durability and performances of our engines using biodiesel.
B20 biodiesel can be used with the 1103, 1104 and 1106 Series Perkins industrial engines.
Learn moreB20 biodiesel can be used with the 1204 and 1206 Series Perkins industrial engines.
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