Biodiesel

National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe, Adam Gryglak of Ford, and Renewable Energy’s Gary Haer at the NBB annual meeting in Phoenix

Biodiesel advocates run the gamut of idealists powering their '70s-era Volvos on spent french fry grease to multimillion-dollar petroleum terminal operators offering B5 to green their conventional product. In between are hundreds of fleets now paring their emissions (biodiesel is inherently sulfur-free) and reducing their imported oil impact. Most are using B20, a 20% blend dilute enough to avoid most of the gumming and related problems associated with all-bio B100.

Price remains an issue with biodiesel, especially when conventional diesel prices are low, as does the establishment of standards and warranty approvals by diesel OEMs. And, in addition to vehicle performance issues, biodiesel faces geopolitical and issues of conscience: so-called first-generation biodiesel is generally made from vegetable oils that could be used for food, or which are derived from plants grown on land that could be used to grow food. Algae-based and other next-generation biodiesel fuels await commercialization.

The National Biodiesel Board is based in Jefferson City, Missouri. NBB's next annual meeting is slated for February 5-8, 2012 in Orlando, Fla.

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