D1 and Stiller complete 6 month B100 test: “no change in engine or vehicle performance”

In the UK, D1 Oils plc and Stiller Group completed a six-month test, running 19 Scania trucks for a million miles on soy-based B100 biodiesel. Results showed no change in engine or vehicle performance, and a minimal reduction but undisclosed reduction in miles per gallon compared to petroleum diesel.

D1 is assembling substantial biodiesel production capacity. It owns a stake in D1 Williamson Magor Biofuels, which aims to establish a 55,000 hectare jatropha plantation in eastern India. D1 has a $90 million joint venture with BP, and has 338,000 acres under jatropha production with plans to plant more than 80,000 acres in Swaziland, Zambia, Madagascar, Mali and Malawi.

D1 Oils is opening a $14 million biodiesel plant in Bromborough, England. The 100 million metric ton plant will add a further 100,000 ton capacity next year when D1 Oil’s jatropha oil stocks are sufficiently built up. The plant will supply fuels to Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

Scania has been more in the news on the ethanol side, having agreed with the Clinton Global Initiative to make ethanol-powered buses available to the same price as biodiesel buses for 409 world cities. The buses has cost $16,000 more than the diesel versions. The 40 cities include Athens, Beijing, Chicago, London, Sao Paulo, and Sydney.

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