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Biofuels powering more than trucks

Officials say biofuels are cutting emissions in more than just truck fleets. 

Bailey Arnold, director of sustainability with the Michigan Advanced Biofuels Coalition, says biodiesel use is increasing in shipping fleets on the Great Lakes.

“We’ve worked very closely with the Port of Detroit.”  He says, “They actually just did a study, and they actually found that biodiesel was the simplest strategy that they could implement today to help decarbonize the port.”

Lisa Collichio, sustainability director with MetroLink, the nation’s third largest passenger rail service, tells Brownfield their entire fleet of 55 locomotives now runs completely on renewable diesel.

“It just works.”  She says, “There are no issues. In fact, during the beta test, our operations crew didn’t even tell some of the engineers that there was a different fuel in the tank.  The engineers didn’t even know that they weren’t running petroleum products in the train.”

Officials with Clean Fuels Alliance America say rail and maritime use are poised to be leading growth sectors for the biofuels industry.

Brownfield spoke with both at the 2025 Clean Fuels Conference in San Diego.

AUDIO: Lisa Collichio – MetroLink