The Charles Poletti Power Project in Queens, NY, an 885 megawatt plant that runs on natural gas or heating oil, ran biofuel from soybeans fuel blended with heating oil at concentrations between 5 percent and 20 percent for two days in late October, Reuters reports.

It was the largest use of biofuels on any single occasion in the U.S. according to the New York Power Authority. Over the two days of testing, the Poletti project used a total of 100,000 gallons of biofuel blended with 900,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil, at partial and full generating capacity levels. Varying concentrations were used for the blended fuel, with the biofuel amounts ranging from 5 to 20 percent, to monitor combustion effectiveness and emissions. The data from the tests, which will be fully developed for a study being prepared by the Power Authority and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), showed some efficiency gains from the mixed fuel, compared with combustion of only conventional fuel oil, along with reductions in emissions.

There was no information on the results of the test.