Sprague Energy Corp. of New Hampshire has become the first oil terminal operator in the United States to earn BQ-9000 Certified Marketer status by the National Biodiesel Board, according to releases from both Sprague and NBB.

“This designation demonstrates Sprague’s commitment to supplying our customers with the highest quality biodiesel,” said Sprague President and CEO John McClellan. “It is our responsibility to prevent off-specification biodiesel from entering the marketplace and the BQ-9000 program ensures this. Put simply, if it doesn’t meet BQ-9000 quality standards, we won’t sell it.”

This year, Sprague has opened the first rack-blended biodiesel terminal in Albany, NY, enabling home heating and diesel fuel retailers throughout Upstate New York, Vermont and Western Massachusetts to supply a precisely blended biofuel product to their customers. Sprague’s Albany terminal, which also stores approximately 40 million gallons of traditional petroleum fuels, stores 40,000 gallons of pure biodiesel (also referred to as “neat” or B100). The B100 is blended with diesel fuel (“Biodiesel”) for over-the-road applications and #2 heating oil (“Bioheat”) for residential and commercial heating applications. The biofuel content is typically 2, 5, or 20 percent of the blended fuel.

New York Governor George E. Pataki, speaking at the Albany facility’s grand opening said “We recognize the need to reduce our dependence on imported energy, and this new facility shows that this vital energy transition is not only possible, but already underway.”