Japan: Biodiesel Fuel

Quality Assurance Law Specifications

There are two quality standards for biodiesel fuels in Japan: a mandatory standard specified in the “Law on the Quality Control of Gasoline and Other Fuels” (“Quality Assurance Law”) and a voluntary Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS).

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The Quality Assurance Law has been amended to allow up to 5% Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) by mass (in the USA and Europe, blending is by volume) and to prevent the use of unprocessed vegetable oils. The requirements take effect in March 2007. The diesel fuel properties specified in this law are sulfur, cetane index, T90 distillation temperature and upper limits on FAME and triglicerides. For biodiesel, additional requirements include limits for methanol, total acid number (TAN), low molecular weight acids and oxidation stability. Both diesel fuel and biodiesel/diesel blends have limits on FAME and triglicerides to clearly distinguish between the two and to prevent the use of unprocessed triglicerides. Table 1 shows the regulated limits for diesel fuel containing up to 5% biodiesel in the Quality Assurance Law.

JIS Standard

Table 2 shows the proposed voluntary JIS standard for biodiesel. It is similar to the European biodiesel standard with several exceptions. The European standard is for use as a blending stock for diesel fuel or as a neat B100 fuel. Japan limits the biodiesel content to 5% so B100 is not allowed. The oxidation stability requirement for Japan is set on the B5 blend and not on the neat biodiesel as is done in Europe. The Quality Assurance Law also places additional requirements on acid number and low molecular weight acids for the B5 blend that are not required in Europe.