EPA brings good news to National Biodiesel Conference

The EPA provided a briefing on biodiesel’s role in the future of renewable fuels during the National Biodiesel Conference this week in Dallas, Tex.. The briefing was also about EPA’s recently introduced final RFS2 rule.

What the EPA had to say is considered to be welcome news concerning biodiesel as a renewable fuel, according to Manning Feraci, vice-president of federal affairs for the National Biodiesel Board.

“You’re going to get a greater penetration of biodiesel into the marketplace, which is obviously a good thing, from the perspective of environmentally, you’re going to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions associated with using the fuel, there’s obviously the energy security angle on this in that we’re going to be displacing petroleum with biodiesel,” Feraci told Brownfield this week during the conference, “and these are all good policy outcomes.”

AUDIO: Manning Feraci (3 min. MP3)

EPA discussion during three conference sessions focused on how biodiesel is classified as an “advanced biofuel,” as well as an explanation of the RFS2 rule and how it will impact the US biodiesel industry moving forward.

Car rental shuttles switch to biodiesel

The air outside baggage claim may be cleaner in several major airports. Enterprise Holdings, comprising Enterprise, Alamo and National car rental companies, is switching their airport car rental shuttles to B5 biodiesel and will immediately convert shuttles in nine major markets to burn B20. Corporate identity and sustainability director Lee Broughton says the action will displace a lot of petroleum diesel fuel.

AUDIO: Lee Broughton (3 min. MP3)

Squeezing fuel from pond scum

Scientists are looking in water for the next generation of oil-based biomass systems. Dr. Richard Sayre is director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis. He thinks algae and oilseed crops will help provide a sustainable source of energy in the future.

AUDIO: Richard Sayre (4 min. MP3)

Running on B20

There were several makes of biodiesel-burning vehicles available for people to ride and drive during the National Biodiesel Conference.  During such an event on Sunday, GM announced that their heavy duty pickups are to be approved for B20, a 20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent petroleum diesel blend, for the 2011 model year.  National Biodiesel Board Vice Chairman Gary Haer is pleased about it and especially pleased to get behind the wheel.

Jobe: biodiesel industry needs incentives

The CEO of the National Biodiesel Board hopes for federal help in the form of tax incentives to get the industry moving again.

Joe Jobe says the lack of federal tax incentives since the beginning of the year has stalled the biodiesel industry in the U.S.

“That is resulting in [biodiesel] plants shutting down, laying off workers, some of those plants are not going to be able to survive and come back on line,” Jobe told Brownfield following his address to open the National Biodiesel Conference in Dallas.

AUDIO: Joe Jobe (9 min. MP3)

Jobe is heartened, however, that at least there’s a feeling among key lawmakers that something should be done.

“The top tax writing senators have said it’s a priority,” said Jobe, referring to Baucus and Grassley, who lead the Senate Finance Committee, “so we’re in about as good a position as we can be in to get something moving, get it done sooner rather than later.”

Although soybeans are still the primary U.S. biodiesel feedstock, the industry has become diverse. Jobe says soybean growers realize that it takes all of agriculture to keep the biodiesel industry going.

“And so they’re not intimidated by growth, by new feedstock development,” said Jobe, “because they know if there is a growing, healthy, sustainable biodiesel industry in the United States, soybean farmers are going to benefit, period.”

Biodiesel Board past chairman reflects on growth

A few years ago, Illinois soybean grower Darryl Brinkmann chaired the National Biodiesel Board and is still on the governing board of the organization. His involvement and that of soybean growers all over the U.S. was prompted by what the renewable fuel might do for soybean oil demand. It did what they wanted it to do. Even though there are other feedstocks used to make the renewable fuel (virtually any fat will do), Brinkmann says the abundance of soybean oil makes it likely that it will continue to be the dominant biodiesel feedstock.

AUDIO: Darryl Brinkmann (5 min. MP3)

Texas biodiesel maker uses beef tallow

Although most biodiesel in the U.S. starts out as soybeans, that’s not the case with biodiesel coming from the Direct Fuels plant just outside of Dallas in Euless, Texas. Biodiesel Operations Director Mark Farrer explains that beef tallow, a plentiful commodity in Texas cattle country, is the preferred feed stock here. Allowed to come to room temperature, tallow firms up, so it’s better suited to the normally warmer climate of north Texas. Farrer concedes that the plant doesn’t make a big dent in the Texas tallow supply, but when it’s running at capacity, it’s capable of producing ten million gallons of biodiesel annually.

AUDIO: Mark Farrer (2 min. MP3)

Biodiesel has fans at the American Lung Association

As a renewable fuel, biodiesel counts among its friends environmentalists, farmers and people who get a kick out of the U.S. producing a fuel that displaces imported oil. Adding to the kind words is John DeRosa with the American Lung Association. He’s all for increasing blend rates and usage of biodiesel because of the demonstrated reduction in emissions. He says fine particulate matter, which is more plentiful in fossil fuels, can aggravate lung ailments including asthma in kids. The more biodiesel used, the better, according to John DeRosa.

AUDIO: John DeRosa (2 min. MP3)

Biodiesel is energy and job security

National Biodiesel Board Vice Chairman Gary Haer has been a believer in the renewable fuel since the first time he ever heard of it in 1993. The reasons he’s a fan have not changed all that much. First of all, Haer says it’s part of the answer for energy security. It’s domestically produced and means that much less petroleum has to be imported. Secondly, it provides “green collar” jobs that are more important today than they ever were. The fact that GM and Ford are now standing behind a 20 percent blend of biodiesel to fuel their trucks Haer interprets as an affirmation of biodiesel becoming a “main stream” fuel.

AUDIO: Gary Haer (3 min. MP3)

Ford’s 6.7 liter diesel fine with B20

The gleaming blue Ford truck parked by a biodiesel pump sports a shiny bold emblem on the left door stating plainly that the machine takes any biodiesel blend up to 20 percent. That particular truck is so new, Brien Fulton, a diesel drive train expert for Ford, couldn’t let anyone drive or even ride in the truck as per orders from higher-ups at Ford. But he’s more than happy to talk about it. “It’s a huge step for Ford Motor Company,” he told Brownfield, “now with this new engine, we have a fully-approved engine that can operate on B20.”

AUDIO: Brien Fulton (3 min. MP3)

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