Biodiesel

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Renewable Hydrocarbon Diesel (RHD)

Coprocessed Renewable Fuels

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Synthetic Fuels

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Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plant & animal products. Biodiesel, as opposed to used vegetable oil sometimes used to fuel converted diesel engines, is a “drop-in biofuel,” compatible with existing diesel engines and distribution infrastructure.

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> Feedstock & Technologies
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> Properties
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Feedstock & Technologies

Biodiesel is produced by the reaction of a vegetable oil or animal fat with an alcohol (typically methanol) in the presence of a catalyst to yield mono-alkyl esters (biodiesel or methyl ester) and glycerin (~10% by weight). This reaction is called transesterification.

Raw or refined vegetable oil or recycled greases that have not been processed into biodiesel are not biodiesel.

Applications

Biodiesel has a higher cetane number than diesel fuel, allowing low-level blends to provide similar fuel consumption, horsepower, and torque as fossil diesel fuel. Biodiesel provides significant lubricity improvement over petroleum diesel fuel, which can lengthen engine life.

Biodiesel blends are designated BXX, where XX represents the volume percentage of biodiesel fuel in the blend. The most common blends are B5 and B20; pure biodiesel is referred to as B100.

Biodiesel can be used in unmodified diesel engines and with little or no change to fueling infrastructure for blends up to 20% (B20). Hundreds of millions of on-road kilometers and countless marine and off-road applications, as well as extensive studies, have demonstrated biodiesel’s power and efficiency across the full range of duty cycles, climatic conditions, and applications.

B20 has been widely available in high-blend states such as Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa, and also at truck stops across the US. B20 blends are not generally recommended for model year 1993 and older engines. (Certain elastomers soften and degrade with prolonged exposure to higher levels of biodiesel; B100-compatible materials have been used since 1994.)

Key Properties

Numerous tests of biodiesel and petroleum diesel show the distinct improvement in lubricity when biodiesel is added to conventional diesel fuel, above the additized level in all commercially available diesel. Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel has poor lubricity, and is heavily additized with lubricity conditioners. Biodiesel blends as low as one percent can provide up to a 65 percent increase in lubricity in distillate fuels and help prevent premature engine component deterioration. The increased lubricity of biodiesel is associated with a noticeable decrease in engine noise in some applications.

Refinery diesel and biodiesel are both amended at the wholesale rack to create fit-for-purpose fuels. Diesel fuels are additized, and biodiesel is additized and blended into diesel to provide predictable performance. Like regular diesel fuel, biodiesel blends can gel at very low temperatures. The composition and cold flow properties of diesel fuels vary widely across Canada, and by season. Low levels of biodiesel can be accommodated in any diesel fuel in Canada. The biodiesel content will depend on factors such as the time of year, location, diesel and biodiesel properties (including cloud point).

The cold flow properties of B20 or higher biodiesel blends can vary appreciably based on the feedstock from which they are made. In general, biodiesel made from oilseeds and bean oils has lower cloud points than those using animal fats and used cooking oils. Also, the better the cold flow characteristics of the base diesel fuel, the greater the effect of blending biodiesel on its cold flow properties. Mid-level (up to 20%) blends can be used seasonally in most parts of Canada.

Diesel and biodiesel blends are both placed into the market with ‘fit for use’ assumptions that anticipate probable use, including delays between purchase and use and travel by the fuel user to a colder region.

Additizing biodiesel blends to achieve expanded cold flow performance is a common practice in northern US states; Minnesota fleets blend 5% biodiesel into winter diesel in part through additization. A 2011 third-party documented demonstration of B10 blends in a large long haul trucking fleet showed that biodiesel vehicles parked outside cold-started when straight diesel did not, and 10% blends with no additization or kerosene were employed through the full temperature range of an Alberta winter. Another Alberta study in 2009 showed that a B2 blend was fully compatible with an Alberta winter, performing well beyond the projected operability limit.

Producing and Distributing Members

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References & Related Links

Standards & Quality

A number of renewable and low carbon fuel regulations specify that commercially available biodiesel must meet CGSB (Canadian General Standards Board) specifications. Updated standards have been published since 2020 for B1-5, B6-20, and B100 to ensure that biodiesel produced to these standards will ensure full operability in modern diesel engines.

U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) samples retail biodiesel blends to check against key ASTM International fuel quality specifications. Findings have shown consistently that biodiesel blends meet or exceed ASTM standard parameters.

Used cooking oils that are non-transesterified are not biodiesel. Higher viscosities, and impurities in these unprocessed fuels, are associated with problems that may include piston ring sticking, fuel system deposits, reduced power, shorter engine life, lower fuel economy, increased exhaust emissions, plugged fuel filters and higher injection pressures. Based on these issues, ABFC has not supported the commercial application of non-CGSB or non-ASTM fuels.

CGSB biodiesel standards (e.g., CAN/CGSB-3.520-2011 for B1-5) contain appendix guidelines for biodiesel handling and blending of biodiesel. NREL publishes comprehensive periodically-updated handling, storage, and use guidelines. Other sources of handling and use guidelines can be found in the Resources section.

In general, good fuel management practices for diesel fuel will ensure trouble-free use of biodiesel when blended.

Best practices include storage under cool, clean, dry conditions, with free water drained from storage tanks and filter housings. Desiccant filters may be appropriate for above-ground storage of neat or higher-level blends. Stability additives may be helpful for long-term storage of biodiesel, and can restore aged biodiesel to working parameters.

A guideline of maximum six month’s storage is recommended; however, oxidation stability additives can extend that period significantly. US Department of Energy tests show additized biodiesel blends remained on-specification for three years.
To prevent precipitation of trace components from some biodiesel, biodiesel and diesel fuel should be at least 5°C above their respective cloud points when they are blended.

Biodiesel blending using inline, or injection blending provides the greatest assurance that a consistent blend has been achieved. Sequential or ‘batch’ blending as an alternative where inline blending is not available/feasible is used successfully in a wide range of conditions in Canada and the US.

Engine manufacturers (OEMs) typical list the fuel blends they have tested in each engine product; this is typical for late-year models. Engine manufacturers do not certify that if an ‘approved’ fuel is used, engine warranties will be honoured. Any fuel – fossil, renewable – can develop properties that may damage an engine. Clean Fuels Alliance America explains, “the most important aspect regarding engine warranties and biodiesel is whether an engine manufacturer will void its parts and workmanship warranty when biodiesel is used, and whether the fuel producer or marketer will stand behind its fuels should problems occur.” This statement applies to all fuels – diesels, biofuels, and blends (see previous section on ethanol considerations).

When an OEM does not express biodiesel approval for an engine, it means only that biodiesel testing has not been conducted on that engine. Manufacturers mostly do not test legacy models; they are ‘out the door’, with biodiesel testing conducted only on new models.

Lack of warranty approval is sometimes mistakenly taken to mean that an engine will not be operable above the warranted blend level or that warranties will be voided for use above the stated level. This is not accurate. Where an affirmative warranty statement has not been given, the OEM has not specifically tested that model.

All major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) approve the use of up to 5% biodiesel (B5) when blended with diesel fuel that meets the appropriate CGSB and ASTM standards. BQ9000 accreditation is specified by some OEMs. Cummins has approved all of its engines for 7% biodiesel blends.

Millions of diesel vehicles run mid-level blends (B6-B20) every day with full operability and billions of successful US and Canadian road miles over two decades. Engine manufacturers are full participants in developing the strict biodiesel quality standards that enable the use of blends up to 20% (B20). OEMs have been party to widespread commercial use of B11, B15 and B20 in several US states (e.g., Illinois, Minnesota) and neither they nor other stakeholders have reported any more incidence of engine or operability issues than is found with straight diesel.

Truck manufacturers have not intervened in markets to disapprove regulations and incentives for mid-level blends. Strong fuel quality oversight, and an experienced petroleum sector, has been important to mid- level blend success, including BQ9000 fuel quality accreditation and the adoption of inline biofuel blending capabilities.

The term ‘blend wall’ is sometimes used to claim that a 5% biodiesel blend is the level above which engine manufacturers will not honor for their warranty”.
Warranty positions by engine manufacturers have not prevented the petroleum industry from distributing very large volumes of mid-level B6, B7, B11, B15 blends (up to B20, B50 and B99) in markets far larger than Canada’s. US major oil companies and midstream firms widely market blends >5%. There is no impediment to such mid-level blending in Canada.

Hundreds of millions of miles of on-road heavy-duty fleet history in the US alone shows no adverse engine impact. One US fleet alone reported in 2010 that, “Its vehicles have accumulated more than 60 million miles using B20 without encountering biodiesel-related issues, and evaluations have demonstrated no appreciable change in fuel economy, engine wear, or driver acceptance.” And a report of 26 months of data collection on 10 commercial HD trucks running B20 for 2,035,968 miles, matched with a control group on ULSD, was supported with engine teardown analyzes that “did not reveal any notable differences between the two groups.” (See Warranties)