As you might remember from my post this past Tuesday (June 17th), biodiesel received preliminary approval from a subcommittee of ASTM International… an organization that sets standards for a variety of things, including fuels.
Now, biodiesel has cleared the next important hurdle as the full ASTM International D02 Main Committee voted to approve three long-awaited specifications for biodiesel blends. This National Biodiesel Board press release has more:
After more than five years of extensive research and subsequent balloting by the ASTM fuel experts in the blended fuel balloting process, ASTM has finally voted to approve three key sets of biodiesel specifications that should significantly bolster automaker support and consumer demand for biodiesel:
* Changes to the existing B100 biodiesel blend stock specification (ASTM D6751)
* Finished specifications to include up to 5% biodiesel (B5) in the conventional petrodiesel specification (ASTM D975)
* A new specification for blends of between 6 percent biodiesel (B6) to 20 percent biodiesel (B20) for on and off road diesel.
Automakers and engine manufacturers have been requesting a finished blend specification for B20 biodiesel blends for several years, with some citing the need for that spec as the single greatest hurdle preventing their full-scale acceptance of B20 use in their diesel vehicles.
Steve Howell, Chairman of the ASTM Biodiesel Task Force, said, “The new ASTM specifications for B6-B20 blends will aid engine manufacturers in their engine design and testing processes to optimize the performance of vehicles running on biodiesel. The new specifications will also help ensure that only the highest quality biodiesel blends are made available to consumers at the retail pump.”
The standards are expected to garner wider acceptance of the green fuel, especially among automakers and fleet managers.
The first practice session for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 is just about to conclude and Team Ethanol’s #17 car is doing very well.
I finally got to meet the Team Ethanol driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay. Ryan was on hand at the Kum & Go pump promotion and posed here with the Highway Patrolmen who helped us with security and traffic and other drivers. He’s the tall guy on the left.
There were several IndyCar drivers on hand at the Kum & Go ethanol pump promotion in Ankeny, IA. One of them was Ed Carpenter, 
The Senior Vice President of Marketing for 
“All three of us have a roll to play in this industry,” Nuernberg says. “We are looking at all the initiatives under way by the different organizations, how we can work together, and make sure we’re not duplicating effort.”
EPIC’s main focus is to drive demand with consumers, while RFA’s role is to protect and promote policy in Washington DC, and ACE is the grassroots organization dedicated to expansion of ethanol production.
A group of students in West Virginia are learning how to brew up biodiesel, while helping run the buses to get them to those classes.
“It opens the door to a whole new world,” Lincoln County FFA president Katelyn Brogan, 17, said. “You learn so much more from it: How to recycle properly, how to renew your fuels, how to save money and time.”