Some recent issues with biodiesel-blended heating oil in the Northeast U.S. might be because of a bad batch of petroleum, not the biodiesel mixed with it.

This blog post from Biodiesel Magazine says that the issue came up at this week’s meeting of the Oilheat Council of New Hampshire, where some members of the group had issues with coking of burners and getting product that “looked like asphalt:”

[Robert Sculley, the council’s executive director] says initially the perception is that the problems were thought to be caused by the bio portion of the fuel, a common scenario when problems occur with biodiesel-blended fuel. However, there has been no determination as of yet as to what the problem really is.

Sculley said at the end of the meeting the question was still, “Is it the biodiesel or could it be a bad batch of petro fuel oil?” He said Advanced Fuel Solutions’ Paul Nazzaro, who also works with the National Biodiesel Board, was at the meeting. Over the next couple of weeks, fuel sampling and investigation of equipment will occur, and more definitive answers should be available soon.

We’ll post more when we get it. Stay tuned…