How to buy B100 FAME biodiesel

B100 is 100 % biodiesel: fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) used neat rather than blended, and in Europe sold against EN 14214. It is made by reacting vegetable oils, used cooking oil or animal fats with methanol. Chemically it is an ester, which is why it behaves differently from both fossil diesel and HVO.

The number is the percentage of FAME by volume. B7 is ordinary road diesel under EN 590, which allows up to 7.0 % (V/V) FAME. B20 and B30 are high-FAME blends under EN 16709:2024, meant for captive fleets with vehicles designed or adapted for them. B100 is neat FAME under EN 14214.

B100 is FAME used as a neat fuel: FAME is the product, B100 describes how it is used. The same EN 14214 FAME is also the blend component in ordinary diesel.

EN 14214, which covers FAME as a 100 % fuel for diesel engines and heating appliances designed for it and as a blend component; the edition in force is EN 14214:2012+A2:2019. On top of it sit national requirements, most importantly the CFPP by season, so name the country and month of use in the contract.

ASTM D6751, current edition D6751-24, is the American specification for biodiesel as a blend stock for middle distillate fuels, and it can also serve as a neat B100 specification. Its limits differ from EN 14214, for example 3 hours of oxidation stability where EN 14214 asks 8. European buyers contract against EN 14214, so a D6751 cargo needs a full EN 14214 analysis before it is offered in Europe.

No. Neat FAME needs the approval of the engine or vehicle manufacturer, and approvals for B100 are specific to engine families and may come with conditions such as service intervals. Check the manufacturer's written position and the warranty before you fill a fleet.

Yes. EN 14214 covers FAME for heating appliances designed for it as well as for diesel engines. Check the burner, pump and seals with the equipment manufacturer, and plan the storage: a heating tank that sits all summer is exactly where FAME ages.

Yes. B100 is supplied as marine fuel, and blends such as B30 are more common. Demand is driven by FuelEU Maritime and by emissions costs under the EU ETS rather than by price. The ship's fuel system has to be suitable, and time on board matters because FAME ages. See marine biofuel.

The feedstock: rapeseed oil, soybean oil, used cooking oil, tallow and palm oil. It decides the cold flow, with RME the best of the common grades and TME and PME the poorest, and it decides how the fuel counts against obligations, which is often the larger part of the price difference.

The grade whose CFPP matches the coldest conditions in the month of use. In practice that is usually RME or a winterised product. Tallow and palm methyl esters gel first and need heated storage in cold weather.

It depends on the feedstock. NREL puts the cloud point of B100 typically between about -3 C and 16 C, rarely up to 20 C. In example measurements without additives, canola (rapeseed) methyl ester clouded at -3.3 C and beef tallow methyl ester at 16.0 C. Store B100 at least 2.5 to 5 C above its cloud point, and contract the CFPP for the month of use.

The CFPP that the national specification requires for the month and region of use, or lower if your own conditions are harsher. It is set by national annex and season, not by EN 14214 alone, so name the month and the country rather than a generic winter or summer grade.

Saturated monoglycerides crystallise in the cold and can block filters even when the CFPP passes. EN 14214 caps monoglycerides at 0.70 % (m/m), and buyers of saturated esters such as TME watch that line closely.

They are trace compounds carried over from plant oils that can form deposits and block filters. They are not a line in EN 14214, but they are a recognised cause of filter blocking and increasingly tested for, so ask for the result when the fuel will be used neat or stored cold.

There is no fixed shelf life. NREL's handling guide expects most B100 to stay above the 3-hour oxidation stability limit of the American specification after four to six months of clean, dry storage, and advises testing every one to two months where the fuel only just meets its specification and carries no antioxidant. Antioxidants, a nitrogen blanket or minimal headspace extend storage life.

Because the ester reacts with oxygen over time, faster in warmth and in contact with metals such as copper and zinc. EN 14214 requires at least 8 hours at 110 C when tested, and a figure on an old certificate says little about the fuel today, so retest before use after storage.

Yes. FAME is hygroscopic and picks up water from air and condensation, and EN 14214 allows at most 500 mg/kg. Water encourages microbial growth and hydrolysis, so drain tank bottoms, keep tanks closed and test the water content before use.

Rust, copper, brass, bronze, lead, tin and zinc accelerate the degradation of biodiesel and increase sediment, so galvanised tanks are not recommended, and B100 can soften or permeate some hoses, seals and plastics. NREL names polypropylene, polyvinyl, Tygon and some nitrile rubber compounds as particularly vulnerable, and Teflon, Viton, fluorinated plastics and nylon as compatible alternatives.

It depends on the grade and the climate. RME stays fluid at lower temperatures than tallow or palm methyl esters, which can gel in an unheated tank in winter. Keep the fuel at least 2.5 to 5 C above its cloud point, and match the CFPP to the coldest storage conditions, not only to the conditions of use.

EN 14214 sets the density at 15 C between 860 and 900 kg/m3, which gives about 1,111 to 1,163 litres per tonne. At 880 kg/m3 a tonne is about 1,136 litres.

From road tanker and ISO tank lots up to full barge and coaster parcels. The practical minimum is usually set by freight economics into the destination rather than by a fixed rule, and smaller quantities in IBCs or drums cost more per litre.

By road tanker within Europe, by barge or coaster between terminals and in ISO tank containers for export, with IBCs and drums for small quantities. Grades with poor cold flow may need heated tankers in winter.

Normally not. FAME to EN 14214 has a flash point of at least 101 C, outside ADR Class 3, and in that condition it is not dangerous goods for road, rail, inland waterway, sea or air transport. Contamination with a low-flash product such as petrol, diesel or methanol can pull the flash point below 100 C and change that. In bulk by sea, fatty acid methyl esters are an IBC Code cargo: pollution category Y, ship type 2.

Volume, delivery point and Incoterm, month of use and storage time, the CFPP needed, the grade or excluded feedstocks, whether you need a proof of sustainability and with which greenhouse gas saving, your storage conditions, company registration and VAT number, end use and payment instrument.

FAME producers, which in Europe range from small plants to large groups, oil majors and traders, and distributors who resell smaller quantities. Producers and traders sell in full truckloads and larger parcels, distributors cover small and frequent deliveries.

We do not publish prices. The price moves with the market and with the grade, the feedstock and its certificate, the greenhouse gas saving, the season, the volume, the delivery point and the duty status at destination. Send an enquiry with those lines and we give you a read on where comparable business is clearing.

The FAME market itself, and on top of it the CFPP grade, the feedstock and how it counts in the destination country, the greenhouse gas saving, freight and heating, duty and excise, payment terms and, for Chinese origin, anti-dumping duties.

Because they count differently. UCOME is made from an Annex IX Part B feedstock and counts within the 1.7 % cap per member state, while RME is crop-based and counted under the separate limits for food and feed crops. Which is worth more depends on the destination market's rules at that moment, not on the chemistry.

It depends on the member state. Under RED III the treatment is national, and several markets, including the Netherlands and Germany, have moved away from double counting. Check the destination market's current scheme rather than the historic position.

Since 2026 the Dutch obligation is counted in emission reductions instead of energy: one ERE is one kilogram of CO2eq reduction against the fossil reference of 94 gCO2eq/MJ, with the new rules applying retroactively from 1 January 2026. A B100 delivery with a higher greenhouse gas saving is therefore worth more there in direct proportion. See ERE and the Dutch market.

What you need on every certified delivery is the proof of sustainability; under ISCC EU a sustainability declaration has to be in place for each batch that changes hands. If you trade the fuel onward with its sustainability claim, you have to be part of the certified chain of custody yourself, with your own certificate as a trader or through a certified counterpart. See ISCC certificate scope.

It depends on the feedstock and the production chain, and the actual value is on the proof of sustainability. The legal minimum under Article 29(10) of the Renewable Energy Directive is 50 %, 60 % or 65 %, depending on whether the producing installation started operation before 6 October 2015, up to 31 December 2020 or from 1 January 2021, against a fossil fuel comparator of 94 gCO2eq/MJ.

FAME made from feedstocks listed in Annex IX Part A of the Renewable Energy Directive. It counts towards the separate advanced biofuels target rather than within the Part B cap, and is priced accordingly, so ask for the Annex IX part on the proof of sustainability.

Increasingly not. Under EU rules high ILUC-risk palm oil is frozen at 2019 levels and phases down to zero by 2030, and since June 2026 Germany no longer lets biofuels from palm oil or palm residues such as POME, EFB and PFAD count towards its greenhouse gas quota. If palm is unacceptable to you, say so in the enquiry and check the feedstock on every proof of sustainability.

A certificate of analysis to EN 14214 from the agreed sampling point, the proof of sustainability if you bought certified fuel, the safety data sheet, the transport document and, for duty-suspended movements, the electronic administrative document. Imports add customs and origin documents.

Every line of EN 14214 with its test method, the CFPP, the sampling date and place, and the laboratory. Look first at oxidation stability, water, monoglycerides and CFPP, because those are the lines that fail in practice, and at the date, because FAME changes in storage.

At the point the contract names as binding, by an inspector both sides have accepted, with sealed retained samples. Because FAME ages, a result from loading and a result from discharge can legitimately differ, so the contract has to say which one decides.

The contract decides: which sample is binding and whether the remedy is a price adjustment, reblending or rejection. A cargo out of grade for one country or month can be in grade elsewhere, so it usually has a home, but the options narrow every day storage and demurrage run.

Usually, yes: reblending, winterisation or downgrading to an industrial or heating outlet are the common routes. Speed matters more than price discovery once storage and demurrage run. See off-spec and distressed cargoes.

Yes. In the EU, biodiesel under CN 3826 00 10 and 3826 00 90 intended as motor or heating fuel is an energy product under Directive 2003/96/EC and subject to its control and movement provisions. Member states set the rate and may apply an exemption or a reduced rate to biofuels under Article 16, so check the rate in the country of use.

Yes, from a tax warehouse to another tax warehouse or to a registered consignee, among other destinations. Under Directive (EU) 2020/262 such a movement only counts as duty suspended under cover of an electronic administrative document in the EMCS system. A buyer without that excise status receives the fuel with excise paid.

3826 00 10, for fatty-acid mono-alkyl esters containing by weight 96.5 % or more of esters (FAMAE), with a conventional customs duty of 6.5 % in the Combined Nomenclature 2026. Other biodiesel and mixtures with less than 70 % petroleum oils by weight fall under 3826 00 90, and blends with 70 % or more petroleum oils under heading 2710. Check TARIC for your origin. See CN codes and customs.

Yes. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/261, published on 11 February 2025, imposes definitive anti-dumping duties of 10.0 % to 35.6 % on biodiesel from China, pure or in a blend. Its product definition covers FAME and HVO alike, and sustainable aviation fuel meeting ASTM D7566 is excluded.

Yes, subject to customs duty, anti-dumping duties where they apply, national excise and the sustainability evidence your buyers need. For compliance use the chain of custody has to hold from the producer onward, and the Renewable Energy Directive requires member states to have operators record those transactions in the Union Database. See the Union Database.

Cash against documents is common, a letter of credit adds a bank's undertaking, and on a first trade with a new counterparty prepayment is normal. Agree the document list before loading, because payment disputes usually start with a document nobody named in advance.

Yes. A term contract fixes volume, grade and delivery rhythm, and lets the CFPP follow the season month by month. The price is then commonly agreed as a formula against a published assessment rather than as a fixed number.

Usually, yes: a litre or so for your own laboratory, with the safety data sheet sent ahead. A sample shows the product on the day it was drawn; the binding quality of a delivery is still the one sampled at the point agreed in the contract.

Ask for the producing plant, the company registration and the certificate number, and look that up in the scheme's register; ask for a recent certificate of analysis from an independent laboratory. Be wary of chains of LOI, ICPO and FCO documents and of requests for fees before a contract exists; see how to tell a real broker from an LOI carousel.

It depends on the use. HVO100 is a paraffinic drop-in for approved engines with long storage life and very good cold flow. B100 needs engine approval, a seasonal grade choice and careful storage, and if you are blending to a mandate and price is the driver, that is FAME. See how to buy HVO100.

Physically yes, both are diesel fuels. EN 15940 allows up to 7.0 % (V/V) FAME in paraffinic diesel, so a blend with more FAME meets neither EN 15940 nor EN 14214. Agree the specification of any blend in writing before it is made.

It is the minimum share of methyl esters in the product by mass under EN 14214, and the same 96.5 % by weight is the dividing line for customs code 3826 00 10. A lower figure points to incomplete conversion or contamination, with unreacted glycerides and other material making up the rest.

EN 14214 caps the iodine value at 120 g iodine/100 g, which limits how unsaturated the ester can be. Highly unsaturated oils oxidise faster and cannot make compliant European FAME on their own, which is one reason the feedstock choice is made before production.