Performance from Biodiesel

Performance from Biodiesel. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

America has always loved great performance from their cars but a lot of people have looked down on biodiesel’s power but it is finding a good home. The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Series is up and running for a second year of competition - and this year - biodiesel is in every tank. National Biodiesel Board Marketing Committee Chairman Jess Hewitt credits Volkswagen for hosting the only clean diesel racing series in the U.S. - and for being the only auto manufacturer participating in motorsports full time with diesel powered cars.

HEWITT: VW got into this competition to be able to show off their new, clean diesel engines to the public to see what can be done with the engineering that they produced using a clean diesel engine, using a combination of diesel fuel and home grown biodiesel really makes a good fit for cleaning up the environment.

Hewitt is also President of Houston-based HYPERFUELS - the official fuel sponsor of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI race season. HYPERFUELS powers the series with its high performance Syndiesel® B5 - a blend of five-percent biodiesel and 95-percent synthetic diesel fuel. According to Hewitt - this blend provides a winning combination of benefits.

HEWITT: Syndiesel® B5 has a very high cetane over 63 cetane number versus about 40 cetane for regular diesel fuel. It also has a higher BTU value which makes the cars go a little bit longer for that gallon of diesel fuel and it’s extremely stable. We’ve got the syndiesel stable for about 10 years. It’s got a very pleasant odor and also it has a very high flashpoint so it’s not as dangerous as straight diesel fuel.

Hewitt says the racing series presents an ideal challenge for the Syndiesel B5 fuel. But their star driver - Theresa Condict of Lexington, Massachusetts - one of only two female drivers qualifying for the 2009 team - has already seen how powerful the fuel can be on the track.

CONDICT: It’s so quiet, you would never believe that you’re in a diesel race car when you are using it. There’s no smell of fuel burning and it gives the car a faster thrust. It’s just the performance that it gives the car is surprising that it’s coming from a biodiesel. I’ve had great experience with it so far.

Condict says part of the performance is actually what you can’t see. She says each driver will only burn one gallon of Syndiesel B5 throughout an entire race.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.