From Zero to B20 in a Few Years?

Biodiesel's prospects surged forward this spring with several significant announcements endorsing the alternative fuel made from crops.

In May, New Holland became the first farm equipment manufacturer to embrace B20 (a diesel fuel containing 20% biodiesel) in all of the engines it manufactures. New Holland's announcement followed a similar announcement by DaimlerChrysler, which said it would warranty the use of B20 blends in its 2007 Dodge Ram pickup trucks sold to government, military and commercial fleets. And, San Francisco became the first major city to implement an aggressive biodiesel plan that mandates all city departments begin using a B20 blend as soon as possible with all city vehicles using the blend by the end of next year.

The announcements are significant because they signal rapidly growing acceptance of a blend that contains four times the 5% blend now endorsed by most engine and equipment manufacturers.

"Daimler and New Holland are on the leading edge of where the industry is going," says Brendan Prebo, a spokesperson for the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). "Are they on their own? No, not in the sense that other OEMs are closely watching them."

The announcements follow years of research and testing by the NBB and diesel engine, fuel injection and equipment manufacturers. That research is now focused on the next generation of on-highway diesel engines slated for 2007. "Our industry's goal is for B20 approval in all major diesel engines and vehicles and we are making great strides towards that," says Joe Jobe, NBB's CEO.

Joe Suchecki, spokesperson for the Engine Manufacturers Assoc. (EMA), agrees. "There is considerable interest in the use of biodiesel above 5%," he says.

A decision a long time in coming

New Holland's decision to embrace B20 has been a long time coming and the decision itself was kind of anticlimatic. "It wasn't a thunderstorm with lightning and thunder kind of thing," says Gene Hemphill, manager of North American Industry Affairs for New Holland. "It was more like a general rain that kept getting stronger and stronger."

New Holland's support of biodiesel started some 15 years ago at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines when it promoted its tractors as biodiesel fueled. That generated considerable interest in both the fuel and New Holland, Hemphill says. In the late 1990s, the company promoted biodiesel at Earth Days in Washington D.C., and four years ago became the first farm equipment company to join NBB's Biodiesel Alliance, a national coalition of organizations, agencies and businesses that promote the use of biodiesel fuel.

Hemphill says New Holland's May announcement was more of a formality, a formality intended to give biodiesel a boost. "We have always been confident about biodiesel internally," he says. "It just reached a point where it was time to make a statement."

The strategy has worked. Hemphill says the announcement has generated considerable interest both here and abroad. He was slated to fly to Canada in late June to discuss new government initiatives there.

Rebounding from last winter's woes

It represents quite a turnaround for biodiesel, which was under a cloud of concern just six months ago. That's when Minnesota was forced to suspend its mandated use of 2% biodiesel after clogged fuel filters stalled trucks, tractors and school buses throughout the state. The problem created a transportation crisis that caught everyone off guard, even though it's well known that biodiesel blends are more prone to cold-flow problems than standard diesel fuels.

"We were very surprised the problem occurred at the B2 level, which did send up some caution flags," Suchecki says.

A state investigation subsequently attributed the problem to quality control failures in the production process and determined it was not an inherent problem with the fuel itself.