Originally published Sept. 18, 2015 in Fleets & Fuels
Seattle-area King County has deployed two new 104-foot water taxis and will operate them on B10 biodiesel from local sources.
King County’s Cummins KSQ50-powered Sally Fox water taxi is fueled by B10 biodiesel. The majority of the non-petroleum fraction is locally sourced, primarily from used cooking oil.
King County’s Cummins KSQ50-powered Sally Fox water taxi is fueled by B10 biodiesel. The majority of the non-petroleum fraction is locally sourced, primarily from used cooking oil.
“Using homegrown biodiesel, our water taxis have some of the cleanest-burning engines around,” King County executive Dow Constantine said in a release. The use of biodiesel on Sally Fox alone “will reduce particulates in the air and prevent more than 140 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year,” he said.
“In line with the biodiesel initiative, the County’s Marine Division has earned membership in the Passenger Vessel Association’s Green WATERS Program – a national volunteer effort that encourages environmental responsibility and action to reduce the environmental impacts of marine operations,” the announcement states.
B10 from Restaurants
The Sally Fox and even newer Doc Maynard are powered by twin 50-liter KSQ50 Cummins KSQ50 engines generating 1,800 horsepower at 1,900 rpm, says program manager Alex Adams.
The $6.25 million, 278-passenger Sally Fox was built by All American Marine from March 2015 to March 2015.
B10 for King County’s marine operations is supplied by Maxum Petroleum, Adams says.
A Dash of Canaola
Maxum sourced 95% of its BQ-9000 biodiesel from Seattle’s General Biodiesel and Salem, Ore.-based SeQuential Pacific, says Andy Christman of Maxum.
“Both companies collect their feedstock (used cooking oil) from western Washington restaurants,” he told F&F. “Sequential also collects their feedstock in Oregon.” Approximately 5% of Maxum’s biodiesel comes from used Canadian canola oil.
King County said too this past week that when its third vessel, the Spirit of Kingston, has its annual maintenance this autumn, “fuel tanks will be cleaned readying the vessel to burn biodiesel.”.