With biofuel blending continuing to become a more prominent fueling trend, you may be asking yourself: ‘Should I continue to purchase biodiesel from other blenders, or should I be blending at my site?’ To answer that question, you'll probably need to answer at least a few other questions first.
Is Biofuel Available in Your Area?
This might be the first question you want to answer. If biofuel isn’t available near you, then it might be difficult to incorporate biodiesel at your site. There are a couple different ways to determine if biofuel is available in your area:
- Look at your competitors: You can visit your competitors' sites in the area and see what percent is on their biodiesel sticker, as anything over 5% is required by law to be posted
- Check with your supplier: Simply ask your supplier, or others in your area, and see if any of them are selling it
Are There Financial Benefits?
If you’ve determined that biofuel is available near you, now you need to figure out if it’s an investment worth making. The Alternative Fuels Data Center of the U.S. Department of Energy states that a qualified blended “may be eligible for an incentive in the amount of $1.00 per gallon.” There is also a federal incentive to implement blending hardware called the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) which issues funding for blending hardware. Some states (such as Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota, California, Washington, and Oregon) also offer additional incentives in the form of credits and grants for biofuel blends. Refer to the Alternative Fuels Data Center to get the latest Federal and State incentives that may apply to you.
Is it Easy to Blend at My Site?
All the above information is irrelevant if it’s not simple to start blending at your site. Thankfully, the Biofuel Blending System (BBS) is here to help. The BBS is an in-line solution that allows you to blend biofuels at your site. As Walt Friesen, the Director of Construction at Wayne Perry, shared in our interview with him, “It’s real quick [to install the BBS]. You have to put a sump in the ground, but you don’t have to have a shed taking up real estate. It’s really simple. I can install it in about two weeks. The other ones take about three weeks.”
The Bottom Line
Biofuel blending isn’t going anywhere, if anything, it keeps growing in popularity. Rather than purchasing blended biodiesel, it may be time to start thinking about blending at your site. If biofuels are available in your area, the Biofuel Blending System delivers biofuel blending within your site and allows you to take advantage of eligible incentives and grants.