The Beauty and the Beast of Biofuel

The bill - INT. 642-2015, introduced by Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) in February - has a wide range of backing, from groups as disparate as the New York Oil Heating Association, the National Biodiesel Board, the Renewable Energy Group, United Metro Energy, the New York League of Conservation Voters, and Teamsters Local 553. Opposing it are the New York State Petroleum Council and the American Petroleum Institute.
 
Somewhere in the middle stands David Stern, director of commercial development at Brooklyn's Approved Energy, a division of Approved Oil, which distributes fuel oil, natural gas, and electricity. "We get it that reducing carbon emissions is important, and it's healthy for our industry to have an alternate fuel," says the 40-year-veteran of the field. But biofuel, he notes, is an emulsifier solvent. This means it dissolves sludge in oil tanks - exposing seams that in old tanks can produce leaks - and, at some concentration, it dissolves the rubber parts of an oil heating system, such as gaskets.
 
Because of this, he says, his company has seen "an uptick in oil leaks. We've had to upgrade literally hundreds of filters and filter gaskets." This involves replacing rubber components with synthetic rubber, such as DuPont Performance Elastomers' brand Viton, which biofuel doesn't affect. Yet even replacing such simple parts as an O-ring - a round gasket that forms a seal between parts -- involves "repairs on industrial equipment like compressors, so it's not a cheap thing at all," Stern notes.
Moreover, "We can't charge for that, since 80 percent of [our customers] have service contracts and the ones without contracts are resistant to paying for service since they're buying product" and expect service to come with it. Stern concedes his evidence is anecdotal. "I say this from the perspective of a guy in the trenches every day. But if there are problems from B2, then we can only assume the problems will increase with B5."
 
The science seems at odds with this. The more than century-old global consortium ASTM -- an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services - says that biofuel up to B5 is "treated the same as conventional fuel oil for testing purposes." As for higher blends, an April 2014 industry survey of more than 13,000 buildings, conducted by Brookhaven National Laboratory and the National Oilheat Research Alliance, showed that "B20 and lower blends operate in the field in a similar manner as that of conventional heating oil."
 
National Biodiesel Board spokesperson Shelby Neal reports that there were developments at the October city council hearing. "The New York Biofuel Association said it has seen not one single issue from B2," Neal reports. "The city has used two million gallons of B5 and B10 total and has not seen any compatibility issues." As for replacing rubber components, he says, "Typically, old gaskets are replaced as part of a regular maintenance program."
 
So is cleaning and proper maintenance of oil tanks, so in these respects, he and Stern agree. "I recommend vigilance," says Stern. "Tank cleaning, routine checks by staff for oil leaks. You want to look at oil tanks, oil lines, oil filters, oil pumps, and the burner."
 
The bill was laid over by the committee meaning no action, such as a vote, was taken. Since the city council's current legislative sessions ends December 31, 2017, Constantinides spokesperson says: "We have another two years" to get this or a similar bill passed.