ARTCo Announces B40+ Biodiesel Fuel Testing Success

Most fuel that is in the tanks of trucks is B20+ diesel fuel, a mix of 80 percent petroleum diesel and 20 percent biodiesel. According to the Department of Energy, biodiesel, especially B20 biodiesel, is compatible with most engines and is more environmentally conscious than pure petroleum diesel. Most states have instituted laws requiring that a certain percentage of a company’s vehicles use biodiesel, the set standard being B20 fuel. The push for biodiesel usage is further incentivized in Midwest regions such as Illinois and Indiana, which take part in the The B20 Club. Founded in 2014 between the state Soybean Association and the American Lung Association, The B20 Club recognizes companies that use B20 (or higher) biodiesel fuel to run their fleets.

While B20 biodiesel has become standard in various sectors of the transportation industry, conversations surrounding higher percentage blends have been ongoing. Cost and engine compatibility have been the forefront of concern for companies interested in using blends with a higher percentage of biodiesel. The transition to the use of biodiesel has been difficult in the maritime industry in particular, as marine vessels are less compatible with the product. American River Transportation Company (ARTCo), a subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), is pushing the boundaries for what is possible with the use of biodiesel in the maritime world. The company recently announced that its fleet on the Illinois River has been running on B40+ biodiesel.

According to Brandon Rick, fleet and sustainability manager for ADM trucking, the company has been running proof-of-concept B40+ biodiesel blends sourced out of St. Louis in its 29 line-haul vessels. ARTCo had already comfortably run its fleet using B20 to B30 blends which, according to the news release published by the Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation on October 9, contribute to an estimated 42,265 tons of CO2-equivalent emissions reductions annually.

“To ARTCo’s knowledge, no other operator is currently burning any bio-blended fuel on the inland waterway system at all, which makes this a genuine first for the sector, not just a step up,” according to the news release.

The fuel is soy-based and sourced from local farmers across Illinois and the Midwest region, the same areas where ARTCo transports grain on its barges, a “farm-to-fuel-tank story.”

“A boat that proves out B40+ reliability on the Lower Miss is a boat that can bring that experience upriver,” the news release said.

ARTCo is currently working on a floating fuel flat as part of its goal to bring high-blend biodiesel fuel to the Lower Mississippi river in 2027. The development of the fuel flat is possible through the support of the USDA Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP), which awarded ADM/ARTCo grant funding in 2024. According to the news release, the HBIIP grant was designed specifically for projects such as this: to help fuel and distribution facilities, including marine terminals, install and retrofit the pumps, storage and delivery infrastructure that is needed to move higher ethanol and biodiesel blends from proof-of-concept into everyday operations.

ARTCo’s territory operations team identified that the supply chain, rather than engines, is the primary barrier which prevents higher biodiesel blends from making it into marine vessels. The floating fuel flat will ensure that the strides ARTCo has made in bringing biodiesel to the tanks of its marine vessels will be realized throughout the company’s fleet.

“The biggest barrier to higher blends on the water isn’t the engines – it’s the supply chain: shore-based blending, computerized blend control, flush cycles and filter-change discipline to manage biodiesel’s detergent effect on piping,” the news release said. “ARTCo built that capability in-house over 20 years of incremental repowering, starting with a single test vessel in 2003. A floating fuel flat purpose-built for higher blends is the next logical step in scaling that know-how to more of the fleet.”