Biodiesel Conference Blog

Each year the National Biodiesel Board bestows the “Eye on Biodiesel” awards, designed to recognize individuals and groups who have advanced the board’s mission of public education and industry growth. The awards were presented by NBB Chairman Darryl Brinkmann (left) and NBB CEO Joe Jobe (right). Award for:

Impact – Sprague Energy – Steve Levy.
A progressive Northeastern petroleum distributor has become the first petroleum company in the nation to earn the status of BQ-9000 “certified marketer.” The New Hampshire-based energy wholesaler also opened the first rack-blended biodiesel terminal in New York. The terminal stores and supplies 40,000 gallons of pure biodiesel for blending in over-the-road applications and #2 heating oil (Bioheat® heating oil) in several states.

Listen to the presentation with Steve here: Sprague Energy Presentation (3 min MP3)

Biodiesel Conference Blog sponsored by

Each year the National Biodiesel Board bestows the “Eye on Biodiesel” awards, designed to recognize individuals and groups who have advanced the board’s mission of public education and industry growth. The awards were presented by NBB Chairman Darryl Brinkmann (left) and NBB CEO Joe Jobe (right). Award for:

Industry Partnership – Rod Lawrence/Magellan Midstream Partners LP, Manager of Quality and Analytical Services.
Under Rod Lawrence’s direction, Magellan Analytical Laboratories has been closely involved in biodiesel testing and analytical method development for more than 15 years. Lawrence’s Magellan lab, then Williams Pipeline, was the first host of the biodiesel industry’s Technical Brainstorming Workshop a decade ago. Lawrence has played a leadership role in developing the industry’s BQ-9000 program, as well as the ASTM specifications. Lawrence and Magellan have given of their own resources, working with other petroleum and biodiesel companies to understand and help prevent quality control issues. Biodiesel blends are now available at nine Magellan terminals which handle over 600 million gallons of diesel fuel annually.

Listen to the presentation with Rod here: Rod Lawrence Award Presentation (3 min MP3)

Biodiesel Conference Blog sponsored by

NBB Chairman Darryl Brinkmann took to the stage today and gave us a great overview of what the organization is doing. He mentioned that the word biodiesel is now in the dictionary for the first time.

You can learn a lot about what NBB is doing, especially in the area of quality control. Darryl talks about the growth of the BQ-9000 program.

Listen to Darry’s speech here: Darryl Brinkmann Speech (13 min MP3)

Biodiesel Conference Blog sponsored by

Yesterday one of the pre-conference sessions was on BQ-9000 and I promised you an interview. So here you go. I spent a few minutes with Mark IV Consulting’s Leland Tong.

Leland explains the BQ-9000 quality assurance program and points to a website where you can get more information.

You can listen to my interview with Leland here: Leland Tong Interview (3:08) min. MP3 File)

Podcast File to use with your subscription software: How To Subscribe

One of the Pre-Conference Sessions is on BQ-9000. This session is designed to provide you with the information you need to become an Accredited Producer or Certified Marketer of Biodiesel.

I’ll have an interview later, which will be part of our podcast series, with Leland Tong, Marc IV Consulting, who was one of the presenters of the session. He says you can learn more about this biodiesel quality assurance program online.

All the pre-conference sessions were very well attended.

Here’s a picture I won’t get to see tomorrow. That’s where the National Biodiesel Conference Golf Tournament will be taking place. I’ll be travelling to get there.

Let me introduce myself, I’m Chuck Zimmerman and I’ll be your blogmaster and podcaster through the Conference. I’ve been retained by the National Biodiesel Board to create and post to this blog as they use the newest forms of online social communication to provide you with the latest news and information. We sure hope you like it.

I mentioned the Golf Tournament, which is just one of several pre-conference events to choose from.

Others include:

Multiple Sunday Sessions: (BQ-9000, Biodiesel 101, Biodiesel Plant Feasibility and NBB Membership)

I’m really looking forward to the: Superbowl Party and Welcome Reception

The Conference really gets going Monday morning with the opening general session. I look forward to bringing you interesting and informative information during the coming week.