Rationale

This ballot is to install a new grade of Fuel Oil that covers the blending of up to 50% biodiesel into No. 1 or No. 2 Fuel Oils (or their blends) used for domestic and small industrial boilers. It was developed via a collaboration between Section 1 and the Biodiesel Task Force within Subcommittee E, and is a continuation of the overall streamlining effort within Subcommittee E. The ASTM D396 Standard Specification for Fuel Oils was modified in 2008 to allow the blending up to 5% biodiesel into No. 1 and No. 2 diesel fuel. In 2015, ASTM D396 was modified to incorporate the blending of up to 20% biodiesel as a separate B6-B20 grade in Table 1. In response to increasing decarbonization pressures, the home heating oil industry in the U.S. has set a vision for decarbonizing that would transition the entire industry to a low carbon liquid fuel by 2050. Since that time, the industry has been investing in research and testing to develop the data needed to set specifications for finished fuel oils for blends over B20 and up to B100. Sufficient fuel data and field experience has now been obtained to allow us to ballot ASTM consensus specifications for blending up to 50% biodiesel into No. 1 and No. 2 Fuel Oil. Fuel data and field experience is being developed to support future changes to D396 that will cover blends up to B100. The proposed properties for B21-B50 grade are the same as those for the B6-B20 grade (including the pour point and 6-hour oxidative reserve), with the acid number being raised to 0.4 and T-90 maximum being raised to 360C. The biodiesel component must meet the D6751 requirements with a more stringent B100 oxidative reserve of 6 hours prior to blending. The tolerances for the upper blend level are set to facilitate blending of 50% biodiesel into No. 1 or No. 2 Fuel Oil. In developing this ballot, several omissions of the S15 grade and the B6-B20 grade in the test methods section were found. Those omissions are being corrected in this ballot.