Biodiesel use approved in California

California has cleared the way for storing biodiesel blends of up to 20% (B20) in underground storage tanks effective October 1.

By National Biodiesel Board August 7, 2019

California has cleared the way for storing biodiesel blends of up to 20% (B20) in underground storage tanks. Biodiesel, which is made from a diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats is the nation’s first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel. It is designed as a renewable fuel for diesel engines and reduces greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuels. The vast majority of diesel fuel is stored in underground storage tanks, particularly at retail fueling locations. Although biodiesel biodegrades in water as fast as sugar, regulators had concerns any degradation of UST materials could allow diesel fuel to compromise the water supply.

The California State Water Resources Control Board amended California Underground Storage Tank (UST) Regulations on August 6. The regulations now say that diesel containing up to B20, meeting the ASTM standard for B20 (D7467), “shall be recognized as equivalent to diesel for the purpose of complying with existing approval requirements for double-walled USTs, unless any material or component of the UST system has been determined to not be compatible with B20.”

The language reverses the previous wording of the regulation, which required tank owners to prove every component of the tank was compatible. The regulation will go into effect October 1.

National Biodiesel Board

www.biodiesel.org

– Edited from a press release by CFE Media.

Original content can be found at Oil and Gas Engineering.