Jeff Corbin is director of maintenance and fleet operations with Mahoney Environmental, an Illinois-based company that services the restaurant industry in all 50 states. Mahoney Environmental has used biodiesel to some degree for years but committed using the fuel across its full 160-truck fleet in the past year to profit from the performance, financial and environmental advantages of the renewable fuel. Corbin says that at the end of the day, there’s “not a lot of argument to be made against” using biodiesel.

Performance benefits

Mahoney Environmental primarily works with restaurants, picking up used cooking oil, servicing grease traps, providing proprietary equipment for cooking oil handling and, in certain markets, delivering fresh oil. Its fleet of Class 7 and Class 8 trucks travels approximately 9.5 million miles per year. With his primary responsibility being to ensure that every truck is running dependably on a daily basis, it was the performance benefits of biodiesel that sold Corbin on the fuel.

“We haven’t seen any drop-off in miles per gallon, and the added lubricity biodiesel brings is good for the engine and for reducing maintenance costs,” he says. “Being a cleaner burning fuel also helps with our after-treatment systems in our trucks.”

Biodiesel was also easy for Mahoney Environmental to add to its fleet. No modifications were needed with its trucks or at its fueling locations.

Financial benefits

Mahoney Environmental has found that biodiesel is often cheaper than petroleum diesel throughout the country. The company gets further savings in its home state of Illinois, where biodiesel blends of B11 and above are exempt from the state’s 6.25% sales tax.

Then there are the added benefits like lower maintenance costs and reduced downtime thanks to biodiesel’s added lubricity, higher Cetane and cleaner burn.

Environmental benefits

Given the nature of its work, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Mahoney Environmental places a priority on sustainability. The company is a licensed EPA recycler and recycles nearly 100% of the material it processes. Additionally, up to 90% of the used cooking oil it collects goes to biodiesel production, including REG.

Its commitment to making the world a greener place now extends to making its fleet greener too. Biodiesel significantly reduces several greenhouse gas and engine head emissions compared with petroleum diesel, including carbon dioxide, total hydrocarbons, particulate matter and carbon monoxide.

“We want to support biodiesel not only because we are engrained in the industry, but because it’s the right thing to do for our environment,” Corbin says. “We want to reduce our carbon footprint.”

This article was contributed by Troy Shoen, senior manager of marketing for Renewable Energy Group Inc.