"Green" Colombia

Colombia may be one of the "greener" countries. One of their finalists for President was the green candidate and they now mandate that all of the diesel sold in the country is bio-diesel. Unfortunately, they are not being very clear about the diesel fuel you purchase in any Colombian territory. When we were in Providencia, a Colombian island, we were out of fuel and had to buy some diesel. Another boater had told us that the only diesel to be had was bio-diesel. We have an old diesel engine - a 1987 Perkins 4-108. So we weren't quite sure how it would handle this fuel. Michael did lots of searching - first to the fuel station to find out what kind of bio-diesel (no signs to even indicate it was bio-diesel). He was told it was B-10, meaning it was 10% bio-diesel. And it was made with palm oil. After lots of internet café time (and money) and phone calls via Skype to Dusty, our St. Pete FL mechanic, Michael put some oil in the fuel and we put in about 45 gallons. We kept our fingers crossed. On the way to Panama, we tried our best to sail as much as possible, but with the light winds and not wanting to risk being out in the Caribbean for ten days, we did motor some of the time.

An oil change was due and Michael being anal about getting them done on time did one the other day. He did find lots of "gunk" of a different sort in his filters. This is something we understand to be part of the bio-diesel problem. It seems it has more of a detergent quality that can clean out lines, tanks and hoses and release stuff into the fuel. The bio-diesel can also break down some types of rubber hoses and rings. So it was good to change the oil and filters.

The good news about bio-diesel is the "why" behind Colombia's effort. It seems that in order to replace the farming of coca for cocaine production, the country is encouraging these farmers to grow the palms for palm oil. Because the country mandates the use of bio-diesel, there is a market for the palm oil. (Yes, we know that there are arguments that they are replacing food crops with palm oil).

We know Colombia has many, many old diesels running in the country, so we're hoping enough research has gone into what the new bio-diesel will do to these older engines. Just for all our boater friends out there reading this blog, be aware that the only diesel in Colombia is bio-diesel.

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