The Hague, 21 June 2024 – Biofuel producers, trade associations, researchers, government officials and more came together in Nieuwspoort on June 13th to discuss the potential for higher biodiesel blends to contribute to significant levels of decarbonisation in heavy-duty diesel-engined vehicles expected to be on the road beyond 2040. In order to decarbonise all modes of Dutch transport, speakers at the symposium underlined the urgent need for an ambitious, technology-neutral approach, that includes the use of high-blends of biodiesel.
In her keynote, Petrouschka Werther, Director for Sustainable Transport at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, highlighted the potential of biodiesel to play a significant part in the transition to net-zero transport. According to her, scaling up the supply of sustainable energy in the Netherlands is a big challenge, and different sustainable fuels will be needed in the fuel mix to support these efforts.
The Dutch Waste-based Biodiesel Alliance (NBAA), organiser of the B+ Symposium, strongly welcomed the call for a national strategy. NBAA presented on the anticipated diesel usage in the Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDVs) sector over the coming 2 decades, and the industry’s vision for government support to unlock the de-fossilisation potential through biodiesel.
“The NBAA supports electrification on the road as quick as possible. But we have seen the government projections on expected use of fossil diesel in HDVs during that transition and we promote the B+ initiative, which simply wants to displace as much of that diesel with bio content as quickly and efficiently as possible”, according to Dickon Posnett, NBAA Chairman and President of the European Biodiesel Board (EBB).
The speakers at the Symposium echoed the facts that high blends work well, they are very cost effective, achieve significant GHG savings and are already here. Now we have asked the Ministry of I&W to work with stakeholders to find ways to overcome any obstacles and facilitate adoption of B+ across HDVs in The Netherlands.”, added Dickon Posnett.
Adam Franklin, the CEO of Greenergy Flexigrid, a 200-strong trucking company, spoke highly of the results of their B20 use, while fuel supplier FincoEnergy’s board advisor Dirk Kronenmeijer was very optimistic about the potential of higher blends and the ease that supply could be ramped up given the right nudges from government.
Best practice
In the American state of Iowa, the use of higher blends of biodiesel is becoming more and more common – a best practice attributed to the incentive-based approach of the State’s regulator. Other US states like Illinois, Minnesota and others are on the list of forward-thinking states that adopted legislation to promote the use of higher blends. Joining us online, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture for Iowa, Grant Menke, highlighted the crucial role legislation plays in enabling large-scale biofuels production and use.
Biodiesel background
Thanks to biodiesel (FAME and HVO), every car, van, truck, and ship can immediately contribute to the Dutch and European decarbonisation policy objectives. HDVs however is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise, therefore B+ provides a huge potential, increasing GHG reductions four-fold simply by using standard high blends such as B20, and higher.
B+ events
B+ is the European initiative to maximise decarbonisation in HDVs with biodiesel (FAME) and renewable diesel (HVO). The B+ initiative is hosting a series of events throughout Europe, leading up to the 2nd edition of the European B+ Summit next year in Portugal. As part of B+, the NBAA hosted this event with a range of speakers and a room full of interested participants in the heart of The Hague. Supporters include the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), the European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA) and Portuguese Waste Bioenergy Association (ABA).