National Biodiesel Board opens membership to new technology

The US National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is to open up its membership to include qualified renewable diesel producers, in a move that it hopes will unite the advanced biofuels industry in the diesel sector.

The decision, made unanimously by NBB's governing board, consolidates the larger biodiesel industry with the younger and smaller renewable diesel industry together to create a stronger voice for both.

‘While produced with different technologies, biodiesel and renewable diesel are close cousins with a lot of shared interests, particularly in policy areas such as the RFS and the blender's tax incentive,’ says Joe Jobe, CEO of NBB. ‘Joining forces puts us in a much stronger position as a coalition to make our voice heard and spread the word that these policies are working and that advanced biofuels are here today.’

Jobe noted that with the change, NBB will represent the entire biomass-based diesel category under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Representatives of the renewable diesel producers echoed Jobe's statements.

‘We have long been impressed with the work NBB does to represent the biodiesel industry and felt that joining forces was the next logical step,’ says Randall Stuewe, president of Darling International,  which is a 50% equity owner in Diamond Green Diesel, a Louisiana-based renewable diesel plant with annual production capability of over 136 million gallons coming online soon. ‘Many of the same issues face both biodiesel and renewable diesel producers and we're glad to be speaking with one voice on these issues.’

According to Environmental Protection Agency data, nearly 1.1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel were produced in 2012. The category represents about 85% of the total advanced biofuel volumes produced under the RFS. About 90% of the production was biodiesel and the rest renewable diesel.