The first commercial pipeline load of blended biodiesel fuel ever shipped in the United States was sent to Roanoke and Athens, Ga., last week, an energy company said.

“The shipment arrived in Roanoke, I believe, late last week,” said Emily Mir Thompson, spokeswoman for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P., a Houston pipeline company.

The company’s fuel tank farm is off Starkey Road. The fuel is classified as B5, meaning it is 5 percent biodiesel, which is made from plant material, and 95 percent petroleum-drived diesel.

There is still not a biodiesel fuel pump open to the public in the Roanoke Valley; some fleet operators have tanks for their companies' exclusive use.

But that could change.

“It’s a very positive development,” Jenna Higgins, spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board, said of the pipeline shipment. “Biodiesel transport through pipeline has the potential to open new and growing markets for biodiesel.”