Any of you California guys running Diesel HPR from Propel?

How's mpg on it? Never heard of this before

If it were available here, I would consider trying it, but I'd need to research long term usage effects on injectors, engine wear, DPF and other exhaust components etc. On paper it sound good though.

MPG is unchanged. It is a direct replacement for #2, unlike bio-diesel. When I go fill up, it's mostly TDI guys buying it next to me, and they generally are the enthusiast types that have made informed decisions to use HPR vs. #2. It's got a lubricity additive in it to bring it into the pre-ULSD range.

Never heard of it, cool.

For me it's only about 2000 miles away or so....maybe a road trip is in order. :go:

It's only 40 gallons of diesel away!

This fuel sounds very interesting. 98% renewable from what I read and less pollution. I downloaded an app that has their stations in Cali. I see that is 2.79 a gallon. What is regular diesel fuel there? We have a little gas diesel war on prices locally and I have been purchasing diesel for 2.09 a gallon. Right now it's cheaper than 87 octane gas. Gas prices here go up and down, diesel is more stable in price.

IndyDiesel said:

This fuel sounds very interesting. 98% renewable from what I read and less pollution. I downloaded an app that has their stations in Cali.

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There's a very lengthy discussion on the PeachParts diesel forum if you are want an interesting read:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/alternative-fuels/365693-biomass-based-diesel-vs-biodiesel.html

I'm a frequent contributor to that discussion, and a lot of guys with a lot of knowledge chime in. If I get a CTD, you can be assured this is what it will burn from day 1.

IndyDiesel said:

I see that is 2.79 a gallon. What is regular diesel fuel there?

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Costco has it for $2.599 per gallon, but that place is a madhouse and not worth it. You can get B20 for around $2.399 but it's at a truck stop with the fast fillers with the large nozzle.

So without going into the ghetto, It's generally in the $2.599 - 2.899 range. RUG is about the same. We get taxed to death out on the Left coast, and our government is still broke and despite the high gas taxes, the roads are still crumbling. But I also have fresh, local produce year round (much of it from my own yard). Tradeoffs, I guess!

renaissanceman said:

There's a very lengthy discussion on the PeachParts diesel forum if you are want an interesting read:
Biomass based diesel vs biodiesel - PeachParts Mercedes ShopForum

I'm a frequent contributor to that discussion, and a lot of guys with a lot of knowledge chime in. If I get a CTD, you can be assured this is what it will burn from day 1.



Costco has it for $2.599 per gallon, but that place is a madhouse and not worth it. You can get B20 for around $2.399 but it's at a truck stop with the fast fillers with the large nozzle.

So without going into the ghetto, It's generally in the $2.599 - 2.899 range. RUG is about the same. We get taxed to death out on the Left coast, and our government is still broke and despite the high gas taxes, the roads are still crumbling. But I also have fresh, local produce year round (much of it from my own yard). Tradeoffs, I guess!

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Sounds like there's a lot of potential with this fuel. If things go a certain way over time, I can see diesels having a significant market penetration in the US and a reputation for being extremely clean and renewable.

renaissanceman said:

There's a very lengthy discussion on the PeachParts diesel forum if you are want an interesting read:
Biomass based diesel vs biodiesel - PeachParts Mercedes ShopForum

I'm a frequent contributor to that discussion, and a lot of guys with a lot of knowledge chime in. If I get a CTD, you can be assured this is what it will burn from day 1.



Costco has it for $2.599 per gallon, but that place is a madhouse and not worth it. You can get B20 for around $2.399 but it's at a truck stop with the fast fillers with the large nozzle.

So without going into the ghetto, It's generally in the $2.599 - 2.899 range. RUG is about the same. We get taxed to death out on the Left coast, and our government is still broke and despite the high gas taxes, the roads are still crumbling. But I also have fresh, local produce year round (much of it from my own yard). Tradeoffs, I guess!

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Since you have been following this new fuel source, in your opinion, is this a fuel also used by heavy trucks, semis, etc. is there potential to share this with the rest of the country? Any drawbacks?

IndyDiesel said:

Since you have been following this new fuel source, in your opinion, is this a fuel also used by heavy trucks, semis, etc. is there potential to share this with the rest of the country? Any drawbacks?

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All of the stations I have been to have been in areas not easily accessible to semi trucks, but I have seen pickups filling up with it (we run it in our Duramax). I think the State gives the company subsidies since it falls into the renewable fuel category. I'm not sure what the economics of producing the fuel are without handouts from the taxpayer.

The fuel we get here on the left coast is refined in Singapore by the Finnish company NESTE. The fuel is known as NEXBTL, and is a synthetic fuel that is chemically the same as "perfect" #2 diesel, without impurities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEXBTL

Thanks for sharing this info on the forum. I find it very interesting. I am not a tree hugger or anything, but if we can make fuel from something other than fossil fuels and it works great and is more environmentally friendly I am all for it. I think I recall President Bush talking about the promise of this fuel many years ago. I just would like to see it more readily available and let folks try it out. Hopefully some other left coast folks will chime in. Thanks again!

yeah, my pleasure. When I started considering purchasing a new CTD, and reading about the DPF issues I got to thinking. Then I connected the dots in my head that my Mercedes smokes on #2 and not at all on HPR. If there is a huge reduction in visible smoke on an engine with no filter, I would think that a modern diesel with DPF would benefit even more drastically from reduced particulate emissions.

Even if the fuel mileage under normal conditions was the same, having very infrequent regens (or none whatsoever -- I don't know if that is possible?) would mean less fuel burned.

Another bit of anecdotal evidence -- When I switched to HPR in my 300D, I noticed a lack of smoke, but my fuel economy was unchanged. I talked to a guy with a late model VW Touareg and he was raving about how he keeps detailed records and how got a 3mpg bump from HPR. I never thought much about it until this morning...that it was probably due to no fuel wasting regen of the DPF.

Very interesting. I wonder if the CTD would max out the regen interval before the grams of soot reached 22.

I wonder how much this stuff is like the Audi stuff:

Audi Announces Diesel Fuel Derived from Water and CO2 –Â*News –Â*Car and Driver | Car and Driver Blog

But then again, with that being part of VW, there is no doubt some sort of "cheating" in there somewhere LOL

What's the max regen interval?

I understand your logic, but not sure it would come true in real life. I think there may be a max miles then regen even if not 22 grams. I don't think you would see a major difference in economy if normal regen is 750 and under new fuel is 1000. I think your driving and speed and traffic would have a larger influence than longer regen cycles. I have another 500 plus miles next week for work, it will almost be all highway, for me, outside temp and wind and traffic could effect economy. Today there is 30 mph wind plus, I rarely drive with the wind at my back.

I made a single post on this last year I thought it was cool wasn't from Propel though.

IndyDiesel said:

I understand your logic, but not sure it would come true in real life. I think there may be a max miles then regen even if not 22 grams. I don't think you would see a major difference in economy if normal regen is 750 and under new fuel is 1000. I think your driving and speed and traffic would have a larger influence than longer regen cycles. I have another 500 plus miles next week for work, it will almost be all highway, for me, outside temp and wind and traffic could effect economy. Today there is 30 mph wind plus, I rarely drive with the wind at my back.

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Using the 750 and 1000 mile numbers, that's a 25% reduction in the number of regens over the course of the vehicle's life. That's pretty significant!