City of Portland's biodiesel trucks stranded by cold air

03:35 PM PST on Monday, November 26, 2007

By JOE MICHAELS, for kgw.com

The Portland Water Bureau had some trouble getting back up to speed after the holiday weekend. Eight of its trucks had trouble making the simplest of drives Monday. The reason – it’s cold outside.


The trucks that were out of commission were being fueled with a summer blend of biofuel. That summer blend is called B-99. It’s a mix of 1% petroleum diesel and 99% biodiesel.


As temperatures cool below 40o, that B-99 will solidify and become jelly-like. And vehicles can’t run off it.


More: Pros and cons of using biodiesel


Co-founder of SeQuential Biofuels, Tomas Endicott, says “this time of year, we recommend…burn B-50, drive on B-50…and don’t take a chance.”


B-50 is a 50/50 blend of petroleum diesel and biodiesel. It works better than the summer biodiesel blend because a 50/50 mix doesn’t solidify until temperatures drop well below freezing

 

Sounds more to me like government employees not paying attention to the weather forecast.

 

Or, paying attention and wanting the day off...........