The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) has created a standard, Specification D 6751, the sets the bar for all U.S. biodiesel production.
Steve Howell, chairman of the ASTM Biodiesel Standards Task Force, said the standard would help protect consumers from poor products and reduce the cost of buying and selling biodiesel.
"While many adopted the provisional specification in 1999, those that didn't had to negotiate a specification," Howell said. "With the final passage of D 6751, they won't have to go through that process any more."
Biodiesel is diesel fuel made from any fat or oil, such as soybean oil. It performs comparably to diesel, with similar BTU content and higher cetane, but lower emission levels.
