While the term biodiesel is a name for an alternative clean fuel, it is also used as a term for a blend of petroleum diesel and the alternative clean fuel.1 Biodiesel blends are denoted as, "BXX", for example B20 is 20% biodiesel, 80% petroleum diesel.1 Many people think of biodiesel as using French fry oil but fuel-grade biodiesel has an industry standard, ASTM D6751 to insure proper performance.

Biodiesel production continues to grow with volumes of 25 million gallons in 2004 to 75 million in 2005.2 A study completed in September of 2006 by John M. Urbanchuk of LECG states: “that America’s biodiesel industry will add $24 billion to the U.S. economy between 2005 and 2015, assuming biodiesel growth reaches 650 million gallons of annual production by 2015.”3

Total annual production capacity, including the plants that chose not to list their production capacity is 864.4 million gallons. It is important to note that production capacity differs from the actual number of gallons sold. In January 2007 there were 105 producing plants across the United States.4

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Perry Byers

1. http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/biodiesel_basics/default.shtm

2. http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/fuelfactsheets/default.shtm

3. http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/backgrounder.PDF

4. http://www.nbb.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/Production_Graph_Slide.pdf

Biodiesel Links of InterestU.S. Department of Energy - Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center National Biodiesel BoardEmerging Markets Online -Biodiesel 2020: A Global Markety SurveyBiodiesel America
Industry Snapshot: Biodiesel

Take a look at our full industry report on Biodiesel (PDF Format) which is attached. If you are interested in other industry snapshots, visit our SBDC Counselors Toolkit or the enewsletter archives at htp://sbdcnet.org/e-newsletters.php