the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council ). Nazzaro ’ s brainstorming led to the following line of thinking : If biodiesel was so good for diesel engines , then why not for oil heat systems ?
“ The heating-oil market was taking a beating ,” Nazzaro reflects . “ Market share was eroding [ to natural gas ] at the speed of light . Steve agreed . I penned a document titled the ‘ Soy Soldiers ’ document . It said , ‘ This is the market , this is the hope , and this is a technical project that at the very least will do this , this , and this . I sent it to five or six notable people , future collaborators . The ‘ Soy Soldiers ’ theme was like we were going into battle .”
The first time the word “ Bioheat ” was uttered was in Nazzaro ’ s basement office , appropriately enough next to his heatingoil tank . “ I knew we had to use a different name . I said I ’ d call it ‘ Bioheat fuel ’ just to differentiate it from biodiesel .”
Bioheat was trademarked and NBB and the soybean groups , particularly Nebraska Soybean , were excited about a new multibillion-gallon market . Victor Bohuslavsky with Nebraska Soybean says he and Nazzaro had lunch one day , and this is when Bohuslavsky first learned about Nazzaro ’ s new concept of Bioheat fuel . “ I thought it was real interesting ,” remarks Bohuslavsky . “ Paul asked , ‘ Do you think your board would be interested in funding research for such a project ?’ He said it would take about three years to research it . I said , ‘ Sure , let ’ s make the pitch .’”
Anderson , with Nebraska Soybean , recalls , “ Paul came to Nebraska with a $ 40,000 project — Soy Soldiers . These guys had a vision to blend biodiesel with heating oil , and that intrigued us . We debated it at the board level . It was way out there . We asked , ‘ Should we do this ? What are the chances of success ?’ If it flew , wow , just look at this potential market .” He notes that at that time , in the early 2000s , biodiesel was struggling to make inroads in mainstream transportation , let alone breaking down barriers to entering the heating-oil market . Bohuslavsky recounts how the board voted to fund Nazzaro and Bioheat fuel research for the first year to see how it would go .
“ They made progress that first year . He ended up saying they would require additional research money , so we got through the first year and halfway through the second year of funding it when Paul said , ‘ We got this figured out , we now can be more deliberate with our strategy and derive additional funding from the National Oilheat Research Association to continue assessing the technical requirements together .’ He took it to the industry , and in three years , that project was real doable .”
In the beginning , Bioheat fuel was a generic term for any blend of biodiesel with heating oil . “ At one point , people were putting in a half a percent and calling that Bioheat fuel ,” Howell recalls . “ Paul didn ’ t like that , so we picked a minimum of 2 percent ”— a floor to add lubricity lost to desulfurization .
In 2010 , Anderson and a group of Nebraska Soybean members , having already been to New York City , then went to Boston to investigate what more could be done to support the emerging Bioheat fuel movement .
“ We saw synergies between oil heat dealers and farmers ,” Anderson notes . “ They have a lot in common . They are both dependent on the weather . Oilheat dealers sell a commodity , and we sell a commodity . Farmers are a generational people , and heating-oil dealers are too — their grandpas sold coal , then heating oil , and now the next generation is selling a renewable blend of Bioheat fuel . It ’ s a natural fit .”
Nazzaro points out that both industries — farming and oil heat dealers — are family businesses . The only difference is that on the East Coast , they hop into their oil truck , whereas in the center of the country , they hop on a tractor or grain truck .
“ What Nebraska Soybean recognized ,” observes Nazzaro , “ was one familyoriented group in the Midwest helping another family group on the East Coast , one that was not in as good of shape as
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