Biodiesel supplies will flow into Nelson in the coming weeks.
Biodiesel New Zealand general manager Andrew Simcock yesterday told 60 people at a Nelson seminar on the fuel that it was examining a proposal to deliver commercial-grade biodiesel into the region.
Biodiesel NZ would announce next week when dispensing would start in Nelson, he said.
The Nelson alternative fuel market was backed by its councils and business and the region was one of the most aware in New Zealand.
Yesterday's biodiesel seminar which was organised by the Nelson Regional Economic Development Agency.
Mr Simcock said interest in alternative fuels was increasing as questions about the security and price of fossil fuels rose.
Its price would be on a par with the current cost of diesel.
Biodiesel NZ launched its ambitions to be a big biodiesel maker in May 2007. At that time the Solid Energy subsidiary said it wanted to take biodiesel production from one million litres a year to 70 million litres in three years.
Yesterday Mr Simcock said the company was collecting about 2 million litres of used cooking oil annually, which was processed at its Christchurch plants.
Biodiesel NZ had rapeseed (canola) grown across thousands of hectares of land by arable farmers between Manawatu and Invercargill. The harvested crop is processed into cooking oil which is sold to the food industry.
High-protein animal food was made from the processed rapeseed plants as a profitable by-product.
The used oil is collected and re-processed into biodiesel at the company's Christchurch plant.
Mr Simcock said the biodiesel was distributed by Allied Petroleum to biodiesel "hubs" between Auckland and Queenstown.
The process gave farmers a profitable break crop between commercial plantings, supplied an animal food, recycled used cooking oil and helped create the first step in New Zealand's journey to creating a self-sufficient fuel supply.
It produced less emissions and particulate matter, increased engine lubrication and, anecdotally, improved fuel efficiency, he said.
The certified biodiesel and its diesel blends were used by a variety of commercial, agricultural and industrial fuel users including the Leopard bus line and ground vehicles for Air New Zealand.
"This is not the one silver bullet to answer all the environmental questions but it is a step in the process," said Mr Simcock.
Wellington-based Andrew Campbell of Fuel Technologies said potential biodiesel users should consider security of supply, cost, engine compatibility, business attraction, performance, storage and handling.
Users could expect similar engine performance and be able to switch back and forth between fossil and some blends of the plant-based fuel, he said.
The first-generation biodiesel available now can reduce greenhouse gas emission by between 50 to 80 per cent, depending on what it was processed from, he said.
Future biodiesel developments would come with technical advances, increased conventional fuel prices and the availability of primary processing products.
© 2011 Fairfax New Zealand Limited.
