Modifications made to biodiesel laws

Fuel refiners and blenders will have a few more days to make their annual transition from one type of biodiesel fuel to another.

State law requires diesel fuel sold in Minnesota to contain a certain percentage of biodiesel, which is a plant-based fuel that can be made from soybeans. The law requires that percentage to grow over time as biodiesel production capacity in the state increases. On May 1, 2018, the percentage of biodiesel that must be included in Number 2 diesel fuel jumped from 10 percent (B10) to 20 percent (B20).

However, because of concerns over how diesel fuel with the B10/B20 blend performs in cold weather, the law says that during winter months, October through March, a lower blend of biodiesel, B5, is to be used. This creates challenges for facilities that blend and refine the fuel and must each year transition between the different blends.

Sponsored by Rep. Paul Anderson (R-Starbuck) and Sen. Bill Weber (R-Luverne), the new law allows those facilities to have a two-week period, April 1-14, to ramp up production of the B20 blend. By April 1 a B10 blend must be reached, then rise to a B20 blend after April 14.

The law, effective Aug. 1, 2018, also makes permanent an exemption from the biodiesel blend for Number 1 diesel fuel, used by many truck drivers, which was set to expire.

HF3523/SF3596*/CH133

SF3596* / HF3523 / CH133