Biodiesel Standards Under Revision

One biodiesel standard is under review, while another one has been revised.

This post on Truckinginfo.com says ASTM International is considering a cold weather biodiesel standard:

Through the ballot, the group will decide if changes need to be made within the specification, D6751. If changes are needed, the group will determine whether they should apply to all biodiesel, or whether the changes should apply to a new separate grade of biodiesel. According to the NBB, the new grade would be intended for use in extremely cold weather.

The ASTM Filter Clogging Work Group and the ASTM Biodiesel Task Force will decide the exact form of the ballot and its limits. The results will likely be presented at the June ASTM meeting.

Meanwhile, The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has revised its biodiesel fuel testing standard. This ASABE press release posted on ThomasNet News says ASAE EP552.1, Reporting of Fuel Properties when Testing Diesel Engines with Alternative Fuels Derived from Plant Oils and Animal Fats, will cover the reporting of testing of any alternative fuels derived from plant oils and their blends with petroleum diesel:

The original document was developed in the 1990s. Since that time, with the rapid growth of the biodiesel industry, the procedures and practices in reporting the testing of such alternative fuels have evolved considerably. The revised document reflects current practices and international standards, with input obtained from experts in industry, academia, and public service.

You can read more about the ASABE standards here.


Engine maker increases fuel economy for E85

Engine technology is beginning to catch up with alternative fuels. How an engine is designed can directly improve fuel economy for alternative fuels like E85, and Ricardo is making great strides in this direction with their Ethanol Boosted Direct Injection (EBDI) technology. Ricardo estimates that an E85 fuel economy improvement of up to 30 percent is possible [...]img alt=”" border=”0″ src=”http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=awakeatthewheel.netblog=581256post=1843subd=propelref=feed=1″ /
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Daily News—02/19/10

p#160;/p h4a href=”http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/02/15/daily61.html” target=”_blank”Major food distributor will run fleet on B5 biodiesel/a/h4 pimg src=”http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/725821-600-0-1.jpg” width=”471″ height=”314″ alt=”" //p pFood distributor a href=”http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/related_content.html?topic=US%20Foodservice-San%20Francisco”U.S. Foodservice-San Francisco/a is powering its delivery fleet with biodiesel./p pThe company’s 136 tractors and 148 trailers started using a fuel blended with 5 percent biodiesel made from soybean oil./p pUS Foodservice said using the blended fuel will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 333 metric tons annually, about the same as taking 65 cars off the road or planting 3,000 trees annually./p pCompany President Phil Collins said reducing the company’s environmental footprint is “a key component of our business strategy,”/p pU.S. Foodservice-San Francisco operates in northern California between Monterey and Redding. It has tested alternative fuels in fleet vehicles since 2006./p emHere’s some local news from Northern California, a large food distribution operation with the conscience to go with biodiesel. If every food or people moving diesel ran biodiesel, it would be a better-smelling highway out there./em p#160;/p h4a href=”http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/02/18/vilsack-urges-renewal-of-biodiesel-subsidy/” target=”_blank”Vilsack urges reinstatement of one dollar biodiesel tax credit/a/h4 pimg alt=”Thumbnail image for Tom Vilsack.jpg” src=”http://blog.prospect.org/blog/ezraklein/Tom%20Vilsack-thumb-250×312.jpg” width=”471″ height=”588″ //p pPhoto of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack from: a title=”http://blog.prospect.org/blog/ezraklein/food/” href=”http://blog.prospect.org/blog/ezraklein/food/”http://blog.prospect.org/blog/ezraklein/food//a/p pAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack used a speech to the USDA’s annual outlook conference to urge Congress to revive the$1-a-gallon tax credit that subsidizes the biodiesel industry. He called the subsidy an “important support mechanism” for the industry. But later, at a news conference, Vilsack stopped short of telling Democratic congressional leaders to put the credit back into a pending jobs bill./p pSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., last week stripped the biodiesel subsidy and other measures from a jobs bill that had been proposed by the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, Iowa Republican Charles Grassley and Chairman Max Baucus, a Monanta Democrat./p p“The key is getting it (the biodiesel credit) into a bill that’s a must do. I doesn’t necessarily have to be the jobs bill, but it has to be a must-do bill,” Vilsack told reporters./p emYou can see what biodiesel means to the farmers of America, I hope Vilsack will be heard in Washington, D.C. Don’t you want your local farmers to have the money instead of the oil giants?/em p#160;/p h4a href=”http://www.heatingoil.com/blog/reports-says-europe-will-lead-global-biodiesel-market-boom-to-126-billion-in-2014218/” target=”_blank”Report says Europe will lead global biodiesel market in 2014/a/h4 pimg title=”biodiesel_400h” alt=”Biodiesel is doing well and will do even better, at a rapid pace. (image: greenerenergy.ning.com)” src=”http://www.heatingoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/biodiesel_400h.jpg” width=”471″ height=”628″ //p pBiodiesel is doing well and will do even better, at a rapid pace. (image: greenerenergy.ning.com)/p pa href=”http://domesticfuel.com/2010/02/16/report-global-biodiesel-market-worth-12-6-bil-by-2014/”As reported by DomesticFuel.com/a, market research group MarketsandMarkets released a study on Monday titled, “Global Biodiesel Market,” which predicted that in the next four years the value of the global biodiesel market would jump by $4 billion. Specifically, Europe would account for nearly 55.6% and the US 28.6% of the market’s total revenue./p pOf particular interest, the report found that global biodiesel production soared in the past year despite a world-wide recession, exhibiting a 17.9% increase in 2009 compared to 2008. That robustness is a sign of even greater things, the press release suggested, attributing the coming boom to a “paradigm shift” in the conversion efficiency of biofuel feedstock./p pemWe have mentioned this report on the global biodiesel market, but I failed to note the prediction that Europe—not the USA—will lead the market in biodiesel. I don’t agree. I have seen what USA farmers can do out there in the fields, and I don’t believe anyone can outgrow us in biodiesel./em/p p#160;/p h4a href=”http://nyunews.com/news/2010/02/18/19fries/” target=”_blank”NYU looks to become more efficient by turning used fry oil into biodiesel/a/h4 pimg src=”http://images.publicradio.org/content/2008/04/16/20080416_frenchfries_33.jpg” width=”472″ height=”314″ alt=”" //p pSCSU sends about 150 gallons of used deep fat fryer oil a week to the city of St. Cloud for use in a new bus that uses the oil for fuel. (MPR Photo/Tim Post) Photo from: a title=”http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/16/frenchfry_bus/” href=”http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/16/frenchfry_bus/”http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/16/frenchfry_bus//a/p p”French Fry Oil into Biodiesel Fuel” is one of 14 projects NYU#39;s Sustainability Task Force is considering to help NYU reduce its environmental impact in New York City. /p pThe project proposed by CAS senior Emma Marconi seeks to find potential companies that can recycle fryer oil from NYU#39;s dining halls more efficiently while educating the community about the biodiesel conversion process./p pAccording to Marconi, though NYU gives frying oil to a biodiesel conversion company, the company gave an insufficient response regarding the oil#39;s use./p p”The thing is we don#39;t [know] too much yet with which process the center is using, whether the vendor is able to turn the oil into useful fuel in the best possible way or whether or not it is the best approach to reducing environmental impact in this way,” said Jeremy Friedman, NYU#39;s manager of sustainable initiatives./p pemWhy doesn’t every school food service recycle their used cooking oil in this way? It is a sure and ready source of fuel for buses, and teaches the students the value of energy conservation./em/pdiv style=”clear:both;”/divimg src=”http://www.biodieselnow.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=168186″ width=”1″ height=”1″
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