San Francisco biodiesel producer Sirona Fuels (http://www.sironafuels.com/) announced on April 1 that a batch of B100 jatropha-based biodiesel returned extraordinarily high test results.

CytoCulture International Inc., the environmental biotechnology firm that conducted the tests, reported that the Sirona fuel’s total free and bound glycerin
concentration was measured at 0.052 percent, nearly five times lower than the
ASTM maximum limit of 0.24 percent. These results were also three times lower than the national average concentration of total glycerin reported in a 2007 survey conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which sampled B100 from 56 production plants in the U.S.

"Sirona's biodiesel set numerous quality records for our laboratory," said Randall von Wedel, principle biochemist for CytoCulture. "The total acid number, the cold
soak filterability particulate count and KF water concentration are the lowest values ever reported for a B100 sample tested at CytoCulture."

In January, Sirona Fuels acquired Blue Sky Bio-Fuels and its 20 MMgy biodiesel plant in Oakland Calif. The company produces ASTM-spec biodiesel from its used cooking oil collection and refining business and is expanding its feedstock intake to include jatropha.