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As more feedstocks enter into the biodiesel picture, how will demand for soybeans from that sector hold up? The use of soybean oil to make the renewable fuel has fallen in proportion to other sources. The director of sustainability at the National Biodiesel Board says the changes have come through a program they’ve developed to support diverse feedstocks.
Don Scott says about 50 percent of U.S. produced biodiesel is from soybean oil. The other half comes from waste greases, and other kinds of vegetable oils and animal fats.
“In the first few years of really substantial commercial production about 80 percent of the biodiesel produced in the U.S. was produced with soybean oil because it was an abundant resource that we had available. Now that we actually have a viable industry where we have biodiesel approved by engine and vehicle manufacturers, and we’re getting biodiesel in the pipeline, we’re able to pull in other feedstocks. So we’re pulling in more forms of waste greases and recycled oils that otherwise couldn’t find their way to an end market.”
Scott thinks the current breakdown of 50 percent biodiesel from soybean oil is a trend that will continue.
“We’ll continue to make probably half out of soybean oil because that’s approximately the amount of oil that’s available on the market as a co-product of protein production for livestock feed. Then all those forms of waste grease and recycled grease will continue to need a home, so I think we’re going to get better at recovering those. I think farmers are going to get better growing crops. They’re going to have higher yields which means more agricultural products available, and that’s how we’ll probably have growth in the industry.”
The National Biodiesel Board is a non-profit organization supporting production of biodiesel with many active farmer-leaders from across the country. Scott says biodiesel is the most sustainable liquid fuel that currently exists.
