By Ron Kotrba

Paul Nazzaro , the longtime petroleum ( now supply-chain ) liaison to the National Biodiesel Board and founder and president of Advanced Fuel Solutions , developed the original concept of Bioheat fuel — biodiesel-blended heating oil — but its proliferation and success couldn ’ t have been possible without NBB and the soybean farmer-leaders at Nebraska Soybean , such as Greg Anderson and Victor Bohuslavsky .

Nazzaro ’ s first interaction with NBB and biodiesel goes back more than a quarter-century , when Kenlon Johannes was still head of the small but growing farmer-led organization , and when Nazzaro represented Global Partners LP . “ Kenlon , Alan Weber , and Steve Howell flew to Boston to meet with Global , a large regional wholesaler of liquid fuels , which had a masstransit contract ,” describes Nazzaro , recalling the first time he heard about biodiesel .

“ NBB sourced them to see if they could explain biodiesel ’ s story and to see whether Global and NBB could work together to introduce biodiesel to the transit buses . This was back in 1996 . Back then , NBB was specifically focused on transit buses . I was national fleet manager with Global .” Nazzaro ’ s job was to expand Global ’ s presence in the fleet business . “ They were already selling fuel to jobbers and beyond that , to FedEx , Ryder , and others .”

Nazzaro was part of this 90-minute meeting , with a dozen people at the conference table . “ There always was and continues to be deficiencies in generic diesel fuel , so we ’ d blend ‘ proprietary additive technology ’ in it to make a better-performing fuel and branding strategies to create distinct market differentiation on the street . You take a common commodity and create a value-add and improve the performance of the fuel while simultaneously avoiding the backward auction associated with selling fuel .”

When Nazzaro and Howell next spoke , it was to discuss interest in representing the biodiesel community to help build a national infrastructure for biodiesel . “ Things started ebbing and flowing nationwide , and I was calling pipelines and terminals , flying all over the country ,” he recalls . “ I wanted to tell the story I saw [ during that June 1996 meeting ] at Global that day . It was a carbon-based business , and everyone had the same fuel . I was hoping to use biodiesel to differentiate fuel from the common , average diesel fuel , to make it uncommon .”

Over more than a quarter-century , Nazzaro built out AFS to be a respected additive manufacturer and fuel-consultation company with nine people on its payroll , while also helping to advance biodiesel into the mainstream . He is one of the myriad

www . fueloilnews . com | FUEL OIL NEWS | FEBRUARY 2023 15