According to Keith Collett, industrial hose marketing manager for the company, a complete line of hose, including Goodyear Flexsteel, Ambassador, BC Gasoline and BC Marina, are available to meet the nation’s growing demand for clean burning biodiesel and E85 environmentally-friendly fuels.
Derived from natural vegetable oils, such as soybean, biodiesel fuel is blended with petroleum to produce a cleaner burning fuel that is sulfur-free. E85 is produced from corn husk that is converted to an alcohol mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
“Current developments in the volatile crude oil market are making green fuels economically attractive as a renewable resource,” said Collett.
He said other rubber hose products could degrade when exposed to new fuel blends, but Goodyear’s are chemically compatible with biodiesel fuels and retain their physical properties after coming in contact with the fuels.
“The added rating to the Goodyear hose products now used to pump petroleum-based fuel enables Goodyear Authorized Distributors to supply service stations without stocking additional products,” he said.
According to the National Biodiesel Board, or NBB, there are more than 1,850 U.S. distributors and retailers of biodiesel fuel with sales increasing in the country from 500,000 gallons to 36 million gallons from 1999 to 2004.
“It’s one of the fastest growing alternative fuels on the market,” said Collett.
Biodiesel is currently being used in diesel, or compression ignition, engines with no or minor modifications required. NBB data shows that B20 diesel, which is a blend of 20 percent natural vegetable oil and 80 percent petroleum diesel, is economically attractive, reduces dependence on foreign oil supplies, promotes agriculture and reduces carbon monoxide emissions.
According to Collett, an added benefit could come from possible tax incentives for operations using the blends.
Flexsteel and BC Gasoline hose are available in a variety of colors including black, red, green and blue. A list of registered biodiesel fuel suppliers across the United States can be found at http://www.biodiesel.org/.
In addition to its fuel pump dispensing hose, the company has also announced that Goodyear Flexwing, Super Black Flexwing, Red Flextra, Plicord Fuel Discharge and Paladin transfer hose, used at refineries and by tanker truck dispensing operations, are now available for biodiesel fuel transfer applications.
“Our comprehensive biodiesel fuel hose lineup serves customers from the refinery to the automobile,” said Collett. “We’re proud of our leadership role, supplying emerging markets that benefit the country and environment.”
In addition to industrial hose, Goodyear Engineered Products manufactures and markets heavy-duty and lightweight conveyor belts, industrial and automotive power transmission belts, automotive hose, air springs, rubber track and molded products. Additional information is at http://www.goodyearindustrialproducts.com/.
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