Biofuel

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C5IAM
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Biofuel

Post by C5IAM »

I have just read the following article in a magazine and I thought it was worth passing on to our welsh friends. The article reads as follows:-

"Deep fat flyers. Some diesel engines, particularly early models, can run on high concentrations of biodiesel without modification. A few canny motorists have exploited this by converted their diesel cars to run on used cooking oil, saving money at the expense of emitting exhaust fumes strongly reminiscent of the local chippy. But this oil is legally classed as a fuel substitute, which makes it taxable at the same duty rate as pump diesel. In South Wales traffic Police - dubbed the 'frying squad' - have sniffed out offenders who use the oil without paying duty and impounded their cars."

Sounds fishy! How about heating oil, is that less conspicuous. I know years ago when blending parrafin with petrol that was very evident as well.
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Post by Xaccers »

HMRC have just come out with a new rule saying as long as you use less than 2500L of vegetable oil a year you don't have to pay duty.
1.9TD XUD's with bosch fuel pumps can run on vegetable oil without modification, although when it gets really cold a fuel heater would be preferable to keep running high % of SVO (straight veg oil).
If you're going to try it, start on a low % of SVO (Tesco rapeseed vegetable oil is good) and work your way up, any problems running or starting (even after 2 glow plug heats) reduce the %
WVO (waste veg oil) needs to be filtered and refined into biodiesel as WVO has high water and acid content which isn't good for your engine.
There's a thread on it in the French Car Chat section.

Heating oil is a fossil fuel so is not exempt.

SVO is carbon neutral because the carbon you release in burning it is the same carbon absorbed from the atmosphere by the plants the oil was made from.
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Post by LOAC »

Hi Xac, that's really interesting what you say about Straight Veg Oil (SVO). Have you got a link about this new regulation?

Thanks

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Post by LOAC »

Did a bit of digging... and found this:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/excise-duty/brief3707.htm

So it seems to be at the proposal stage still and hasn't become law yet...

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Post by MikeT »

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Post by slim123 »

Heating oil and now parrafin has the same dye as red deisel, so if you get stopped and "probed" you will be in deep poo.

The links are very interesting, I have been using a cooking oil mix for years but now it looks as though I will be able to keep within the law if I use less than 2500 litres per year (when the law come into force) or am I reading this wrong??

The trouble with government documents is that you can break the law simply by not understanding the jargon and the way that it's written.

Would someone with a better education then me care to read it and explain!!!

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Post by LOAC »

Thanks MikeT,

From: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/excise-duty/brief4307.htm

"We can now confirm that these measures will be introduced on 30 June 2007."

So it looks as if the new rule is in force now? But then what do I know!!!

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Post by James.UK »

On the glorious 30 th June 2007 I filled my ZX with veg oil from the local supermarket.. Tax? what tax? do I look bovvered? :D :D \:D/

My ZX will do approx 10 miles per litre.. Soooo... that 2,500 tax free litres will take me approx 25,000 miles.. Shame I am only averaging 5000 miles a year though.. lol :roll: :lol: ...
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Post by LOAC »

Hi James.UK,

That's brilliant! :-)

I think the smell of deep fat fryers is going to become the norm on our streets!

My only worry is how they interpret this law. Are they going to argue that the rule is for fuel producers and not for people who buy oil in the supermarket and put it in their tanks?

Over the last 10 years a law against just about anything has been brought in...wouldn't surprise me if they've made up something else to catch you out and stop you doing your bit for the enviroment whilst saving money.

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Post by MikeT »

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Post by MikeT »

By the way, went to tesco's to get 9 litres and see they've dropped the price a little. Now 55.6p per litre :lol:
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Re: SVO

Post by ssray »

My only worry is how they interpret this law. Are they going to argue that the rule is for fuel producers and not for people who buy oil in the supermarket and put it in their tanks?

As soon as you put the veg etc in your tank you become a fuel producer.

Ray
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Post by MikeT »

Don't worry - either way you have to use over 2,500 litres per year. As the goverment cannot administer the usage, they're hardly going to be able to enforce it! But I fear plans are in motion to control it's sale and tax it. :evil:
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Post by RichardW »

I hate to be a killjoy on the veggie band wagon but....

The HMR&C brief 43/07 specifically refers to biofuel production. At the bottom there is a link to the Public Notice 179E which defines biofuels and fuel substitutes.

Biodiesel is defined as (sec 2.1):

"The law describes 'Biodiesel' as a diesel quality liquid fuel that is produced from biomass or waste cooking oil:

the ester content of which is not less than 96.5% by weight; and
the sulphur content of which does not exceed 0.005% by weight, or is nil."

And sec 2.2 goes on to say:

"2.2 Other fuel substitutes
Any liquid that is not hydrocarbon oil, biodiesel, bioblend, bioethanol or bioethanol blend but is used in place of mineral oil to fuel any engine, motor or other machinery is classed as a fuel substitute. Please see section 3.1.1 for further details. This includes:

any liquid used as a fuel in place of mineral oil;
any liquid which is used as an additive or extender to a mineral oil; or
any liquid which is used as an additive or extender in a fuel substitute."

And under para 3.1:

"At the time of publishing, Biodiesel and Bioethanol have an excise duty rate of 20 pence per litre less than the sulphur-free diesel/sulphur-free petrol rates. However in order to qualify for these lower rates these products must be shown to fully meet the relevant fiscal definitions as described in Section 2.1 of this Notice."

and

"If the product does not meet the appropriate definition it will be considered a fuel substitute and will attract a higher rate of duty. See sub-paragraph 3.1.1 for more information.

For example, in order to be Biodiesel, a product must meet all of the following criteria:

It must be of 'Diesel quality' – see paragraph 3.3 below; and
It must be a liquid – not gaseous at a temperature of 15°C and under a pressure of 1013.25 millibars; and
It must be made from biomass or waste cooking oil;
The total ester content must not be less than 96.5% by weight; and
The sulphur content must not exceed 0.005% by weight or be nil."

All of which weasel words, to my mind, says that ONLY esterified bio-diesel qualifies for the zero rated duty - SVO / WVO does not - as it is considered a fuel substitute - and should be rated for duty at whatever the rate is now - 49P + VAT / litre? So all of you filling straight of the shelves are guilty of duty evasion and a potential visit from HMR&C. Yeah, stupid I know!

Anybody want to ask HMR&C to confirm the situation..... :twisted: :roll:
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Post by bxbodger »

Anybody want to ask HMR&C to confirm the situation.....
.......Someone already has!!

There's lots of correspondance with C&E over here-look in the C&E part of the forum http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/ and it's still very much ongoing and complicated....I'd hazard a guess that C&E don't understand what the SVO situation is themselves, and the average well overstretched traffic cop will have many much more important things to do than try and get his head round SVO usage!
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