BIODIESEL INDUSTRY

Providing Information About the Biodiesel Industry

The biodiesel industry has grown steadily since the late 1990’s into to a multi- billion dollar industry employing hundreds of thousands of people. Initially produced from soybeans from the residual oil from soy products processing, it has grown to include many other oil feedstocks including waste vegetable oil and animal triglycerides. Commercial production facilities have grown nationwide and worldwide since that time. The industry reached a key milestone in 2011 when it crossed the one billion gallon production mark and by 2015 the biodiesel and renewable diesel market had doubled to more than two billion gallons. In 2016 the market achieved was a record high 2.8 billion gallons. The majority of biodiesel producers in the US are certified to BQ-9000 insuring that most of the biodiesel sold in the US meets the ASTM Standard D6751.

AgriFuels LLC consulted with the National Biodiesel Board from 2005 to 2010 and with the biodiesel industry since 2005. Our NBB contract provided education and outreach to the 50 state National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) association. Under the guidance of National Institute Standards and Technology (NIST) (previously the Bureau of Standards) NCWM provides a state based forum to enforce “equity in the marketplace”. The national fuel quality standards organization, ASTM International, establishes fuel quality standards for biodiesel and biodiesel blends ASTM D6751 for B100/B99.9; ASTM D7467 for the B6-B20 blend; ASTM D975 for B0-B5 (transportation diesel); ASTM D396 for B0-B5 (heating oil). AgriFuels and the NBB have been instrumental in communicating these ASTM standards to the NCWM states and have worked to incorporate the standards into their laws and regulations. More can be learned about the biodiesel industry and the NBB at www.biodiesel.org.

BIODIESEL PRODUCTION AND MARKETING

Biodiesel Production Process. biodiesel is a general name given for methyl ester obtained from organic feedstock.

Production

The biodiesel industry has grown steadily since the early late 1990’s into to a multi- billion dollar industry employing hundreds of thousands of people. Initially produced from soybeans from the residual oil from soy products processing, it has grown to include many other oil feedstock including waste vegetable oil and animal triglycerides. Commercial production facilities have grown nationwide and worldwide since that time. The industry reached a key milestone in 2011 when it crossed the one billion gallon production mark and by 2015 the biodiesel and renewable diesel market had doubled to more than two billion gallons. In 2016 the market achieved was a record high 2.8 billion gallons. The majority of biodiesel producers in the US are certified to BQ-9000 insuring that most of the biodiesel sold in the US meets the ASTM Standard D6751.

Marketing

Biodiesel is produced through a process called transesterification which combines vegetable oil or animal fats and alcohol to remove the triglycerides to produce methyl esters. The biodiesel can then be burned in any combination with petroleum oil in diesel engines and home heating oil systems.​

Once the fuel is produced to the ASTM Standard D6751, it is then stored and distributed through the nation’s fuel distribution system of petroleum marketers. Many of the nation’s marketers are certified to the BQ-9000 standard insuring the majority of fuel continues to meet the required D6751 standard. More information on marketers can be found on the NBB website at www.biodiesel.org/using-biodiesel 

Pumping gas at gas pump. Closeup of man pumping gasoline fuel in car at gas station.