Industry Leadership Group
The biodiesel market adds
significant value to soybean
crops and the Nebraska
Soybean Board (NSB) has
aggressively supported fuel
research projects year after year to
expand opportunities for their members.
“When we first started with biodiesel
fuel, we had a glut of soybean oil sitting
around, and our board worked hard
to build the market for that
product,” said NSB Executive
Director Victor Bohuslavsky. “We
have a very good board that
understands we need markets for
products, and they are willing to
support research to build those
markets.”
Nebraska has a limited
biodiesel production industry
of its own so it uses its checkoff
dollars to support the growth
of emerging markets, mostly on
the east and west coasts. When
there is a healthy market for
soybean oil, the value of each
soybean bushel increases by
about 65 cents, according to Cale
Buhr, the association’s market
development coordinator.
In recent years, NSB has
directed funds for research
into additives for the California
biodiesel market. Nebraska’s
support has helped create
additives that reduce NOx
emissions and address air quality
concerns raised by the California Air
Resources Board.
The Nebraska association has
also played an important role in the
development of the Bioheat® fuel market
on the East Coast. When the nascent
biodiesel industry began exploring the
opportunities to blend biodiesel into
heating oil, NSB directed checkoff funding
to organizations such as the National
Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) and
Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Those organizations took advantage
of the support to conduct fundamental
research on fuel blending, combustion,
storage, emissions, and other topics
that set the stage for ASTM approval of
biodiesel in heating oil applications.
In 2008, ASTM updated its
heating oil specification, ASTM
D396, to allow for biodiesel
content of up to 5% in all heating
oil applications. That revision to
the standard made it possible
for any fuel marketer to sell B5
Bioheat® without any risk of
violating equipment warranties.
Many individual marketers
quickly saw the value of
Bioheat® and began promoting
it to customers as an attractive
alternative to traditional heating
oil. It offered an improved
emissions profile and directly
displaced petroleum with
biodiesel that could be produced
with soybeans grown by U.S.
farmers.
The Nebraska Soybean Board
built a particularly strong bond
with heating oil marketers in New
York City. In 2012, B2 Bioheat®
became the heating oil standard
in the nation’s largest city, creating
Nebraska
helps grow the
biodiesel market
Victor Bohuslavsky
Executive Director, Nebraska Soybean Board
14 Biodiesel Success Stories