Keith, D-6751 is the new standard presently under review by ASTM for biodiesel. It was submitted on January 10, 2002 for approval. Expected approval window is mid March, 2002.
I believe that it can be safely presumed the submission was made by the NBB. One of our partners, a chemist, is budgeting for and assembling the equipment that will be required or would be equally useful in testing product to insure that it meets the standard, although the parameters and testing methods are not entirely known yet. The earlier provisional standard does give some direction on this, however. There is no clue at this time as to whether or not the application was submitted in a manner where the final standard will be exclusively applicable to biodiesel manufactured from 100% soybean oil, virgin or recovered, or if the parameters will be inclusive of other feedstocks such as yellow grease, blended oils and animal fats. Only the published approval in March will reveal how this pans out. As soon as we find out what the approved standards are, we'll put together some data on costs to meet them, via an in house lab or out-sourcing. The concept of a central lab dedicated solely to analyzing biodiesel is not absurd, although any testing will noticeably elevate the cost of the micro-manufacturer of but a few hundred gallons at a time. As for YBD's hurdle, I'm still not clear as to what the $1 million dollar value that was thrown at them by the EPA was actually referring to. Meeting ASTM standards most certainly would not cost that much. That leaves only three things: A) someone intentionally blowing smoke up someone's pant leg to scare them off or B) An EPA rep in error as to understanding of reality or C) Requisite Tier I & II testing for every type of feedstock other than soybean oil and every type of alcohol. The present Tier I & II testing of biodiesel that everyone references was conducted on soy-diesel alone. These tests were funded by the US National Biodiesel Board. I hope that an organization stating itself as "the national trade association representing the biodiesel industry," albeit funded primarily by the soybean industry at large, is extensive enough in its purpose as to not orchestrate the preclusion of the industry's use of specific feedstocks. That would be unfortunate, as there are a few basic economic principals that dictate the necessity of using as broad a range of feedstocks as possible. To not is to create rather terminal problems for many elements of the soy industry, inclusive of soy farmers - not unlike the ethanol industry's premature and nearly fatal demise in the 70's. Todd Swearingen ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/ACHqaB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
