The Birth of American Biodiesel
they were in the Midwest . In my opinion , [ Nebraska Soybean ] saw this as exciting and rewarding . When I had to pitch this to get funding , it was a matter of basic math .”
Even if just a fraction of the 4- to 7-billion-gallon distillate market for heating oil was captured , this would provide the opportunity to take a lot of soybean oil off the market and create yet another new and emerging market for biodiesel , helping fulfill the vision of the early farmer-leaders of NBB in ways they never imagined at the time of its inception .
Alternatively , as Nazzaro points out , “ One market calls for demand when the others aren ’ t . Heating oil is consumed November through March — the cold-weather months ,” whereas B20 blends elsewhere are used less in the winter , particularly in places like Minnesota where they have a mandate that scales back to B5 in the winter months . The use of biodiesel in heating oil could provide an equilibrium for producers between supply and demand in the “ off-season .”
“ It just works ,” declares Nazzaro . “ The numbers were the numbers , and it just works itself out . We hosted many forums in Boston , and we ’ ve been to Nebraska many times , where I ’ ve walked the farm and sat at the dinner table with passionate biodiesel stakeholders . This is really a human-relations story that can be validated on paper .”
Anderson explains that in 2010 , the heating-oil industry was hurting badly . “ They have a checkoff too ( National Oilheat Research Alliance ), and theirs has to be renewed every few years . They didn ’ t have the dollars to put into advertising and research . We said , ‘ What can the Nebraska checkoff do to jumpstart this fuel in the Northeast ?’ We thought a big ad campaign was needed . People need to know about it , and there needs to
In the beginning , Bioheat fuel was a generic term for any blend of biodiesel with heating oil .
be more testing , research , and education of oilheat dealers to embrace the fuel and switch over .”
Nebraska Soybean stepped up to the plate . “ We put in over $ 800,000 and wrote a check to cover that [ ad campaign ] because
18 FEBRUARY 2023 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www . fueloilnews . com