National Biodiesel Board Honors BNL's Tom Butcher

April 10, 2015

Tom Butcher speaking at the National Biodiesel Board award ceremony.

Tom Butcher, an energy researcher at Brookhaven Lab, was recently honored by the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) with a 2015 “Eye on Biodiesel” award in the innovation category. Butcher was recognized for playing “an instrumental role in the technical research” that led to the designation of six to 20 percent biodiesel blends as fuels. The citation credited his work documenting the positive field experience with biodiesel blends and providing the research background. 

“Biodiesel has grown very rapidly as a fuel, with more than 1.8 billion gallons produced in the U.S. last year,” Butcher said. “A lot of it is used for diesel engines, but there is also strong interest in using it for home heating systems. Home heating systems are a great application because they are technically simpler and cheaper than transportation diesel engines.”

The NBB works to clear barriers to deployment and widespread adoption of biodiesel, which was first used in 1993. At Brookhaven Lab, NBB sponsors Butcher’s research to help identify and understand the technical barriers to using biodiesel in home heating systems.

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