A new study shows that biodiesel performs well in some of the harshest off-road applications.

A couple of weeks ago, I told you how Canadian forest products company FPInnovations had partnered with Natural Resources, Canada’s National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative (NRDDI), to launch a $1.625 million field study to study the potential of biodiesel in off-road machinery in highway construction and forest operations. Now, this Biodiesel Magazine story says early results show that the green fuel will work … good news considering Canada’s B2 mandate is getting ready to kick in:

The issues identified by the NRDDI for investigation include impacts of cold weather and long-term storage on biodiesel; the interaction of biodiesel from various feedstocks with seasonal variations of ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD); the impacts on emerging heavy-duty truck engine technology, in particular 2007 and 2010 emission controls; impacts on engine and heating systems components; and how biodiesel works in the existing distribution infrastructure. Incidentally, the term “renewable diesel” was chosen by NRCan to be as inclusive as possible, to allow stakeholders in Canada the opportunity to test fuels they thought were important, says Nancy Johns, senior manager with the office of energy efficiency at NRCan. She confirms, however, that up to this point biodiesel has been the main fuel of interest in the NRDDI studies.

The study found no cold flow, startability or operability issues, even in the harshest of environments. Some testing included blends as high as B100.