To BQ or Not to BQ - Is That the Question?

As I prepare to head off to Orlando for the NBB Conference and Sustainable Biodiesel Summit, my thoughts turn to the BQ-9000 "cooperative and voluntary" accreditation program. The NBB will no doubt be crowing loudly about it once again.

What they'll be bragging about, exactly, I'm not quite sure, since the industry continues to be troubled by quality problems, despite the growth of this program that attempts to create the illusion of quality assurance.

Here at Yokayo, we don't consider quality control to be something "voluntary," even if the government and the industry lobbyists seem bent on keeping it that way. Mistakes in fuel processing cost a lot of money, especially if they find their way to people's fuel injection systems. I've seen plenty of under-converted fuel that failed on the ASTM glycerin test- even from BQ-9000 accredited producers.

I don't know. Perhaps I'll one day decide to join the toothless BQ-9000 program. Consumers may demand it. Perhaps it will be improved to be more in line with ISO 9000 programs in other industries. We'll see.

In the meantime, I rely on a number of systems to track biodiesel production batches at our plant. One is the batch data sheet you see on the next page.

To me, quality assurance has to do with a lot of things, but perhaps the most important is stubborn idealism. If you really care about putting a good product out there and being true to your customers, then you will be constantly trying to improve your capacity for excellence. Which sounds great, but what it really means is that you are doomed to never be satisfied with your product.

A few innovations that have been discussed at Yokayo Biofuels management meetings recently:

All of these things are meant to make the process of creating better fuel both easier and cheaper. It's a tall order. The only reason I'm confident we can fill it is we have bright, energetic staff who understand the sacrifice and come to work again and again anyway.

When someone admires a pint of our fuel under the light, where its crisp glow contains a certain magic, they are admiring the quality of our people and our aspirations. That's the credibility I care about. It comes from experience, which does not appear to factor into the BQ-9000 equations.