After a couple of weeks without writing a blog entry due to simultaneous flooding, blizzards, editorial reorganization, locust attacks (sorry, kidding about the locusts but who knows, maybe that's what we here in Grand Forks, N.D., are in store for this summer) it's time to resume the www.biodieselmagazine.com F.A.M.E. Forum Forum blog.

This past week in the Biodiesel world was an interesting one. As the new editor of BIODIESEL MAGAZINE I was in the midst of taking the May issue "to print," meaning after editing and reediting and re-reediting, giving it to the print shop for its day on the printing press, and the article I wrote for the May issue is a sort of critique of the cold soak filtration test as it exists today.

Just after I learned the second CSFT that will eventually replace the current, flawed test method passed out of ASTM's committee of standards procedure and received an official, new ASTM number, D 7501, information came in from my sources about the IRS pushing back the deadline on B100 passing the cold soak test in order for it to be eligible for the tax credit.

Previously, in order to be eligible for the buck per gallon tax credit, all biodiesel was required after April 1 to meet the latest version of biodiesel's quality spec, which includes the CSFT; but the recent delay means producers can have six more months to improve their process without getting penalized in the form of taking away a vital subsidy. That called for another round of edits to the story before we carried it "to print."

This situation with the IRS, while fortunate for some, can make for an interesting debate … who's going to want to buy biodiesel that does not meet the latest quality spec? Is it affirmation in some sense that the current method in the annex is bunk, and therefore by October the new, D 7501 CSFT will be in place? What about BQ 9000 producers…how does this affect them, if at all? And the B5 in D 975, isn't that biodiesel that can invisibly travel up to five percent in the diesel fuel specification required to meet the latest biodiesel quality spec?

I'm interested in hearing your opinions on this. For more news on the IRS delay and the new ASTM D 7501 CSFT, read the news portion of BIODIESEL WEEK. And for my "critical analysis" of the CSFT, look for my featured article in the May BIODIESEL MAGAZINE, called, "Cold Soak or Wet Blanket?" Thanks and send me an email or give me a call if you have something you'd like to share.