to finished fuels regardless of the biodiesel blend value up to 5 % biodiesel , with the added requirement that the B100 must meet D6751 prior to blending .
For the D396 heating oil standard , major oil burner manufacturers , Underwriters Laboratory ( UL ), and 1-2 Brookhaven National Laboratory ( BNL ) contributed to the technical work which supported the argument for this change . This technical work included materials compatibility , validation that B5 fuel blends could meet all of the burner performance criteria normally applied for burner listing , and other basic storage and use tests . By 2008 a significant amount of positive field experience was also available with B20 blends in conventional diesel engines and ASTM also successfully balloted standards for finished B6-B20 blends for on / off road diesel engines .
Since both No . 1 and No . 2 fuels are used in the same engines and are often blended together in cold weather , the B6-B20 standard simply combined the two into one grade and using the same test methods and limits as are found in either the No . 1 or No . 2 grades . For B6-B20 additional parameters for the finished biodiesel blends were also added for acid value and oxidation stability reserve to help ensure adequate protection against degradation over time , and the 90 % distillation temperature ( T-90 ) was allowed to be 5 ° C higher due to the high flash point nature of biodiesel . With the same methods and limits and limits as conventional diesel , and additional controls for biodiesel blends , the National Biodiesel Board reports that B6- B20 blends have been used in existing diesel engines successful for many years even though these engines may not have been originally designed with B20 in mind . Very little experience or market demand existed for blends higher than B5 in the home heating oil market in 2008 , however . In comparison to modern high-pressure common rail diesel engines equipped with DOC / DPF / SCR aftertreatment , fuel oil-based home heating systems are much simpler and can accept a wider range of fuels than are needed for modern diesel engines . This allowed the heating oil research community to build on that learned from the on-road market and focus B6-B20 technical activities for heating oil on those differences specific to heating oil type systems .
Based on interest from fuel oil dealers to find novel ways to compete against what is perceived to be cleaner burning natural gas , the National Oilheat Research Alliance teamed with the National Biodiesel Board , industry and university technical experts , and Brookhaven National Laboratory to fill in the technical gaps identified for B6-B20 in home heating oil applications .
The work conducted between 2008 and 2015 , largely summarized in this report , included efforts with B20 and with higher blends up to B100 in some cases . These efforts culminated in the successful balloting of a B6-B20 grade into the ASTM D396 fuel oil standard in 2015 . Since much of the home heating oil in the market today is simply on / off road diesel fuel that has been redesignated , the B6-B20 home heating oil grade mirrors that of B6-B20 being used for on / off road diesel , i . e . combining the No . 1
26 FEBRUARY 2019 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www . fueloilnews . com