VANCOUVER, B.C. – In a landmark vote, the fuel experts of ASTM Subcommittee E voted overwhelmingly to recommend the passage of finished specifications for biodiesel blends. Specifically, they will recommend the following to the ASTM D02 Main Committee at its final vote later this week:

• Finished specifications to include up to five percent biodiesel (B-5) in the conventional petrodiesel specification (ASTM D975).

• Changes to the existing B-100 biodiesel blend stock specification (ASTM D6751).

• A new specification for blends of between six-percent biodiesel (B-6) to 20-percent biodiesel (B-20) for on and off road diesel.

In particular, automakers and engine manufacturers have B-6 to B-20 specification for more than five years. All three proposals were balloted to the D02 Main Committee for consideration at the semi-annual ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials) meeting being held in Vancouver last week.

The votes represent the culmination of more than five years of extensive research and subsequent balloting by the ASTM fuel experts in the blended fuel balloting process.