Just as Mother Nature Intended

Katie Parrish

July 13, 2006 — In Kansas City, Mo., unleaded gasoline prices averaged $2.99 this week and $3.09 for diesel • and that's considered cheap to most Americans. Even in our personal lives it's difficult to hand over our keys and hop on city buses until we can fit gas back in our budgets, but on construction sites, it's simply not an option to halt the use of lifting equipment to save money on gas.

 

The good news is there are some readily available alternatives made by Mother Earth. From fuel to tire ballasts to hydraulic fluids, there are a number of nature-made products currently on the market that are plentiful and safe for the environment -- with prices that fit in our financial plans.

Fuel

Naturally, this is a top concern for many equipment and truck owners, and biodiesel fuel can be used as clean-burning alternative. Biodiesel is a diesel fuel made from virgin vegetable oils or recycled sources like cooking oil. Biodiesel fuel can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel and used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

 

Not only is biodiesel better for the environment because of its low emissions, it is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar. Since it is made in the United States from renewable resources like soybeans, it also decreases dependence on foreign oil and contributes to the American economy.

 

According to World Energy Alternatives, a nationwide supplier of biodiesel, biodiesel blends, and biofuel, biodiesel has undergone rigorous testing including emissions, health effects, and road-worthiness. As a result of these tests, biodiesel is a registered fuel with Environmental Protection Agency, meets clean diesel standards established by the California Air Resources Board, and is an alternative fuel recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International) has approved a permanent specification for biodiesel, D6751-02.

 

One biodiesel success story worth noting is Harvard University, which recently switched to biodiesel fuel in its fleet of campus vehicles. Although the move was environmentally motivated, The Harvard University Gazette reported that the university is saving approximately 15 cents per gallon with biodiesel over what it paid at retail pumps for diesel. After installing its own biodiesel filling station on campus, Harvard University estimates that it will recoup the $60,000 paid for the investment within five years because of the reduced price per gallon.

 

Tire ballasts

Tires have long been injected with fluids to add to the overall gross weight of the machine to increase the amount of draw-bar pull and traction, but some liquids are better for preserving the life of the tire and safer for the environment.

 

Undoubtedly, the most popular fluid added to tires is water. Although it is abundant and cheap, water weighs only 8 pounds per gallon and freezes at 32° F. To keep tires from freezing, an antifreeze solution is often added to water. In fact, some companies are recycling antifreeze from their vehicles and reusing it as a tire ballast. However, the antifreeze solution does not add any additional weight to the tire, and if the tire is punctured, machine owners have a toxic mess to clean up.

 

Calcium chloride is another ballast alternative that is relatively harmless to plants and soil; is effective at lower temperatures, freezing when the temperature is around -60° F; and weighs more than water • somewhere between 10.5 and 12.5 pounds per gallon, depending on how much solution is added to the tire. The disadvantage of calcium chloride is it's highly corrosive and will rust the tire rims if the fluid leaks out of pin holes or the valve stems. In some situations, it may take a long time to rust, but replacing tire rims is an unnecessary expense if it can be avoided.

 

A product fairly new to the market is Rim Guard, a non-corrosive, non-toxic, biodegradable, and water soluble alternative. It weighs between 10.7 and 11.8 pounds per gallon, and it can withstand temperatures to -35° F.

 

According to Phil Globig, president and co-owner of Rim Guard, the product was first formulated by a farmer who had to replace his tractor tire rims, which had deteriorated from calcium chloride. He invented and patented a tire ballast bio-product made from sugar beets and introduced it to the market in 2001. It has a consistency similar to molasses and the viscosity of 10-weight motor oil. Rim Guard can be injected into the tire using a conventional pump and storage system.

 

I should note that when tires have the appropriate amount of ballast, it also improves fuel efficiency too. According to a recent article in AgTech Innovator, most equipment owners ballast their tires for a “worse-case scenario” when they actually may only reach the upper limits of the machine's power only a small portion of the time. Instead, weighting a machine for typical conditions rather than its maximum needs will reduce fuel consumption and costs. Additionally, an over-ballasted machine can cause overloads, wear, and drivetrain failures.

 

The key to correctly ballasting a machine, according to AgTech Innovator, is to decide the speed necessary for an operation and the amount of the load. Then set the machine's weight just heavy enough to pull that load at that speed and at an acceptable slip level. The total machine weight should wind up being two and a half to three times the load being pulled.

 

Hydraulic oils and lubricants

Among construction vehicles where high temperature and pressure applications put strain on the hydraulic system, hydraulic fluid leaks are a common occurrence. But even a small leak is costly to clean up and in downtime. However, biodegradable lubricants on the market replacing petroleum-based hydraulic fluids reduce clean ups and downtime because they are non-hazardous to the environment.

 

One particular product is Terresolve Technologies EnviroLogic series of lubricants, which is being used in the National 690E-U ENVI boom truck. Introduced last year at ICUEE, the National 690E-U is a clean machine that runs on biodegradable diesel and uses Terresolve's EnviroLogic® 3046 vegetable-based oil throughout its hydraulic system. The EnviroLogic 3046 is a high-performance, non-hazardous ISO 46 grade hydraulic fluid that's intended for severe service and operators at extreme high (400°) and low (-40°) temperatures, as well as high-pressure applications. For more on the National 690E-U ENVI and a case study on Terresolve's hydraulic lubricant in Northeast Utilities' fleet, click here.

 

Terresolve's other products include SafeOil™ 31 multipurpose household lubricant. At ICUEE, I received a small sample of this household lubricant and took it home (although I was a little worried about carrying it on the plane). I'm happy to report that my screen door is squeak-free and has been since September!

Environmentally friendly products are currently within our grasp. By consciously taking steps to making your equipment fleets a little greener, you'll be surprised to find a little more green in your wallet.