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You can use them to make candles, printer ink, adhesives, insulation and even dinner, but these days soybeans are perhaps best known as the raw material for producing biodiesel, a diesel fuel alternative that is growing in popularity across the country.
That popularity has been tempered somewhat by myths and uncertainties in popular culture. Can you really recycle french fry oil from the local fast food joint to make biodiesel? Does fuel economy suffer? Will you void your engine warranty if you use biodiesel? Which blend is right for your fleet—B2, B5 or B20?
1-800-GOT-JUNK, a franchise junk removal company, is attempting to find answers to those questions with a biodiesel field test. According to Craig Jooste, corporate operations manager for 1-800-GOT-JUNK (yes, that is the company's name), "We had talked with Isuzu 18 months ago about biodiesel, but because it's not as well-regulated here as it in, say, Japan or other places, the manufacturers have always had a fear of the quality of the source. I don't think they're afraid of biodiesel by itself, but they're afraid of the source and quality thereof."
Isuzu's response? "They said 'At this time we cannot authorize you to use biodiesel without violating the warranty on the engine,'" Jooste says.
Nonetheless, he and the company CEO remained interested, and when a "Biodiesel Summit" was held in the company's hometown of Vancouver, B.C., Jooste approached Isuzu again, and convinced the company to give biodiesel a try.
"They said, 'Okay, we'll take 10 trucks in your fleet—a cross-section of 2004-2008—we'll do a six-month test in 60-day increments, we will look at fuel quality, we will look at performance, we will look at the impact on different systems, like the fuel filters," Jooste says.
The Guinea Pigs
Jooste then recruited 10 franchisees around the country willing to take on the extra effort of monitoring and recording fuel use and performance. Now that the volunteers are lined up, General Motors-Isuzu is sending a national service representative to the 10 test locations.
