NBB Wraps up Mid America Trucking Show with CO2 Reduction Demonstration and New Trucking Survey

LOUISVILLE, KY. – The National Biodiesel Board, Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board and United Soybean Board jointly participated in the largest U.S. based trucking show—Mid America Trucking Show (MATS), which attracts close to 60,000 truckers to Louisville, Ky. every year.

On National Biodiesel Day, Wednesday, March 18, the National Biodiesel Board announced the results of lifecycle carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction demonstration. The six-month demonstration culminated in a report showing California-based fleet States Logistics’ CO2 reduction of 72.9 tons compared to straight petroleum diesel. States Logistics can use this report as a marketing tool to show customers. Eventually, this quantified data may be used to sell carbon offsets on the voluntary markets, but today they clearly show States Logistics’ efforts towards reducing CO2 and other pollutants.

“We were really pleased to see the quantified reduction of CO2 and other pollutants,” said Ryan Donovan, VP of Operations and Business Development of States Logistics. “This is something that we can take to our customers, like Clif Bar & Company, and they can show their customers. We all benefit from having this information available to show the efforts being made to reduce carbon footprint throughout the supply chain.”

States Logistics ran seven trucks: four on soy-based B5 (5% biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel) and three on B99 (99% biodiesel and 1% petroleum diesel). The B99 trucks (three-axle International model 8600) ran 48,198 miles and consumed 8,770 gallons over the six month period. The equivalent straight petroleum diesel output would have been 89.9 tons, but with B99, the output was 19.8 tons for a savings of 70.1 tons. The B5 fleet (two-axle flat bed) traveled 61,433 miles and consumed 7,090 gallons of B5. Equivalent petroleum CO2 output would have been 71.4, with B5 the output was reduced to 68.6 for 2.8 tons of CO2 reduction. In addition to CO2 reduction, an estimated 119 pounds of particulate matter were eliminated from the exhaust during the six month period. Carbon monoxide (CO) was reduced by over 500 pounds, hydrocarbons (HC) by over 50 pounds, and sulfur dioxide (SO2) by close to 40 pounds.

“This information is valuable to any fleet using biodiesel,” said Tom Verry, Director of Outreach and Development for NBB. “We picture eventually offering this as a value-add report for BioTrucker Fuel Card holders.”

On Friday, March 20, the NBB along with Chicago-based Indigenous Energy, LLC, developers of emissions tracking systems, presented the demonstration results to truckers and fleet owners in a seminar.

Throughout the show the NBB and Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board ran an online survey of Owner Operators, independent, and company drivers. Of 276 responses: 8 percent were not familiar with biodiesel; 75.8 percent have a positive impression of biodiesel; 57 percent have at least tried biodiesel and 94 percent would use biodiesel in the future; supporting American farmers tops the list of reasons for using biodiesel with 59 percent choosing this and 40 percent choosing energy independence.

The National Biodiesel Board along with the U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Lab, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and many other organizations has accumulated volumes of data measuring biodiesel emissions reduction, which can be found on www.biodiesel.org. Biodiesel has a positive energy balance, for every one unit of fossil energy needed to produce biodiesel, the return is 3.2 units of energy, according to a 1998 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That number is expected to climb even higher with improved technology. The same study showed biodiesel made from soy.

The NBB is the national trade association of the biodiesel industry and is the coordinating body for biodiesel research and development in the U.S.

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