photo courtesy National Biodiesel Board / ZimmComm

Fresh from their annual conference in Orlando, biodiesel producers say they'll need help from lawmakers to open the throttle on fuel production.

The chief executive of the National Biodiesel Board, Joe Jobe, told conference goers that boosting the federally mandated minimum volume of biodiesel slated for use next year is the single biggest challenge facing their industry.

Biodiesel is produced in the US from recycled cooking oil, rendered fats and soybean oil.

Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, the Environmental Protection Agency sets a minimum volume of renewable fuel that refiners must blend into the national fuel supply.

For 2012 the RFS for biodiesel is one billion gallons, a volume US producers surpassed last year.

Jobe said the EPA proposed to lift that to 1.28 billion gallons in 2013, but it’s yet to approve the increase. He said a delay will harm the industry.

“Lack of growth would eliminate opportunities for innovation and competition and investment, and all the promise the RFS brings that we know our industry’s capable of,” said Jobe.

“If we lose this fight it will set a precedent that will make it even more difficult to grow volumes beyond 2013.”

Jobe said the delay in approving an increase for 2013 may be partly due to uncertainty created by Renewable Identification Number, or RIN fraud.

RINs are unique codes attached to units of renewable fuel: the EPA is currently investigating two biodiesel companies over allegations of producing invalid numbers.

Jobe said a task force is being formed to work on eliminating RIN fraud and, in spite of the controversy, the Renewable Fuel Standard has been a success, helping the US reduce its reliance on foreign oil for transportation.

The RFS does have its detractors.

Charles Drevna, of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, told the conference that for refiners, the RFS was not working.

“If anyone out there in the real world would have, over time, 20 per cent of your market mandated away, I don’t think you’re going to stay in business too long,” said Drevna.

In  Orlando, one of the biggest consumers of biodiesel is the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Lynx.

More than 4 million gallons of biodiesel a year are pumped into the fuel tanks of Lynx's 270 buses. They run on a B20 blend: 20 per cent biomass based diesel and 80 per cent petroleum diesel, and it's blended at the main bus depot.

The blending unit was installed in 2009 at a cost of 2.5 million dollars.

Project Specialist Ricky Sonny said the investment has paid off so far, lowering fuel costs and emissions.

“In the Central Florida area it was very difficult to get the B20 biodiesel blended product,” he said.

“The thought was the biodiesel blending station would not only be able to provide biodiesel for us, for the quantity we use, but also provide for our sister agencies.”

Sonny said Lynx was the first mass transit authority in the U.S. to start blending its own biodiesel.

He said among other agencies that could start using blended biodiesel from Lynx in the future is Orange County Public Schools, which runs a fleet of more than 1000 buses.