IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/itsrrp/qt7tp5m3k5.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Feasibility Study for the Use of Biodiesel in the Caltrans Fleet

Author

Listed:
  • Miller, J. Wayne
  • Durbin, Thomas D.

Abstract

Over the past several years, biodiesel use has dramatically increased due to its potential emissions benefits, classification as a low-carbon/renewable fuel and ability to be integrated into diesel fleet applications without significant infrastructure or other substitution issues. Caltrans has largest fleet in California, so biodiesel would provide many benefits in terms of meeting environmental and energy security objectives. However, all aspects of biodiesel use needed to be thoroughly investigated, including potential benefits and liabilities, prior to widespread introduction into the Caltrans fleet. In this research project, the University of California, Riverside (UCR) completed a thorough literature investigation, surveyed current users, attended national technical sessions designing the strategic road-map and reviewing the progress for biodiesel, wrote specifications for Caltrans purchase of biodiesel and carried out a twelve-month field demonstration at Indio. Results of the research and field demonstration showed that biodiesel is a viable option for Caltrans. A caveat moving forward is that each site should carry out a thorough analysis of the implementation to include the cleanliness of their fuel tanks and the assurance that the delivered fuel meets ASTM D6751 specifications and the specified low temperature flow properties. The research recommended that emissions be measured with Caltrans equipment rather than relying on published values and that work is being carried out in a follow-on Caltrans project.

Suggested Citation

  • Miller, J. Wayne & Durbin, Thomas D., 2009. "Feasibility Study for the Use of Biodiesel in the Caltrans Fleet," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt7tp5m3k5, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt7tp5m3k5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7tp5m3k5.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt7tp5m3k5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lisa Schiff (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/itucbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.