Biodiesel Lab Gets BQ-9000 Accreditation

Iowa Central Community College now holds the distinction of USA’s first BQ-9000 accredited fuel testing lab. The BQ-9000 accreditation is a voluntary quality guarantee program managed by an independent body called National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission. The commission imposes necessary standards required for quality assurance checks for biodiesel and biodiesel mixes.

The biofuel lab of the college was started by Don Heck, who is currently the director started it, as an instruction lab in the year 2006 and was functioning from the greenhouse of the college. It received patronage from the local biofuel companies who wanted it to have all the state-of-the-art lab features. He added that the features of the biofuel program and the equipments deployed at the lab attracted the attention of Steve Howell of National Biodiesel Board. To meet the rigid standards of accreditation the lab employed technicians who are qualified to work in the lab. He concluded saying that it took four years and an investment of $2 million to achieve the biofuels: BQ-9000 accreditation.

As mentioned by Heck, each biofuel product tested in the lab undergoes 10 to 15 types of tests such as metal content, cold flow properties, distillation properties and biodiesel pollutants that are precipitated during the production process. A generated test report is given on completion of tests irrespective of the fuel qualifying in the tests. Heck considers the BQ-9000 accreditation as a perfect launching pad for the lab to work and move towards achieving ISO accreditation.