Bio Diesel

Welcome to the world of alternative fuels. As you will learn, all Kuma oil burning stoves are compatible with biodiesel. Using the latest in vaporizing oil burner technology your new Kuma Stove makes it possible for anyone to heat their entire home with this vegetable oil based alternative fuel. It is clean, affordable, environmentally safe, renewable, and recyclable. Using a frequently asked questions format, you can learn more about bio-fuels and how you can heat your home with this amazing fuel.

What is Biodiesel?

Biodiesel is produced by processing vegetable oils from various seed crops such as rapeseed, canola or soybeans, as well as waste vegetable oils resulting from cooking use. Biodiesel is a fuel that is manufactured through a process called transesterification, whereby in the presence of a catalyst the oil goes through a chemical reaction and glycerin by-product is dropped out of the fuel. Pure biodiesel is called B-100 or neat biodiesel, and has a heating value of about 133,000 BTU per gallon compared to about 140,000 BTU per gallon for #2 petrolium fuel oil. Biodiesel blends well with petroleum fuel oil in any percentage without separation problems. Biodiesel blends are made in volumetric percentages and are designated BX, where X indicates the percentage of biodiesel that is blended with the petroleum fuel oil. For example, B20 has 20% biodiesel in it.

According to the U.S. Department of energy, biodiesel has become America's fastest growing alternative fuel. Production of pure biodiesel tripled in 2005 alone, reaching 75 million gallons. There are more than 600 public filling stations for biodiesel and over 1500 petroleum fuel distributors delivering biodiesel and bioheat.

What is Bioheat?

Bioheat is a name adopted by the biofuel industry to indicate fuels that are made by blending only a percentage of biodiesel with low sulfur home heating oil. Heating oil distributors typically sell bioheat in a blend of 2% to 20% biodiesel. Ask your distributor about federal subsidies available for blended fuel. When burning a higher percentage of bioheat, or up to B100 in your Kuma oil stove, special attention needs to be given. See "What concerns are there?" on this page.

Why should I heat my home with biodiesel?

As we have all seen of late, the cost of home heating has risen significantly. We have seen the price of home heating oil, natural gas and propane become very volatile. Biofuels are an alternative to this. Because it is renewable, farmers can grow crops that can be processed into biodiesel year after year, making America less and less dependent on foreign petroleum oil. Biodiesel can be made in it's pure refined form as described above, or it can be made from waste vegetable oil, thus making it a recycling effort. Home biodiesel processors are available for purchase so that a homeowner can collect waste oil and make fuel for heating. Please see "What concerns are there?" for more on this.

What are the benefits of burning biofuels?

For one, biodiesel is environmentally safer than burning petroleum home heating oil. It is naturally a non-aromatic fuel as well as being a naturally oxygenated fuel at 10-12% oxygen by weight. It has no sulphur and far less particulate emissions than regular petroleum oil. In fact, in testing by the National Oilheat Research Alliance, even a B20 blend reduces sulfur oxide emissions from the petroleum fuel by 80%, nitrous oxide (NOX) by 20%, carbon dioxide by 20% and significantly reduces carbon monoxide. Secondly, biodiesel is energy efficient. Biodiesel has the highest energy balance of any liquid fuel. For every unit of energy used to make biodiesel, 3.2 units of energy are gained.

What concerns are there?

Fact: The performance of your Kuma Oil Stove is directly related to the quality of the fuel. All Kuma Oil Stoves vaporize the fuel before burning it, and are up to 82% efficient. Biodiesel made from 100% soybean or canola oil from a refinery burns very clean with minimal coking in the burner. When biodiesel is used that is made from waste vegetable oil, there can be suspended particles as well as suspended water that becomes solids in the burner bottom when burned. Kuma Oil Stoves will burn these fuels fine, however there can be more maintenance of decoking and burner cleaning. Biodiesel also has a higher density than fuel oil. Since all Kuma Stoves are natural draft and gravity fuel flow, they depend on a consistent viscosity of the fuel. When biodiesel cools, it thickens, thereby inhibiting stove performance. Special consideration is needed in the area of tank location, exposed lines and filter etc. Tank heaters, heat tape, fuel additives, using bioheat (20% blend of biodiesel with petroleum oil) as well as and indoor tank location are some of the solutions available.

More information can be found at www.biodiesel.org