Biodiesel means added value.
Biodiesel is better for the environment, better for the economy and better for Ohio farmers’ bottom line — it adds 63 cents in value to every bushel of soybeans. That’s why the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC) and Ohio’s soybean checkoff work closely with the National Biodiesel Board to support efforts to increase biodiesel demand.
OSC's Current Biodiesel Projects
OSC currently supports two projects that promote the usage and advantages of using B20 blends of biodiesel.
- The first project is a collaboration with Ford to assess the ability to reduce CO2 emissions when a diesel engine calibration is modified for biodiesel blends, taking advantage of the soot reduction, lower H/C ratio and higher cetane number of biodiesel.
- The second project will help provide the Locomotive Maintenance Officers’ Association (LMOA) with the information and data needed to help the locomotive manufacturers move from B5 to B20 approval. Increasing biodiesel usage in locomotives is a 750 million gallon per year opportunity.
To find out more about what OSC is doing with biodiesel, contact Tom Fontana at email@example.com or by phone at 614-476-3100.
Made from a combination of soybean oil, recycled cooking oil and animal fats, biodiesel is the first and only fuel commercially available nationwide to meet EPA’s definition of an Advanced Biofuel, meaning that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent. In 2005, soybean oil use for biodiesel was just 675,000 pounds. Biodiesel consumption in 2017 required 6.2 billion pounds of soybean oil or the oil from 532 million bushels of soybeans.
This increase in demand for soybean oil has led to an increase in supply for soybean meal, lowering meal prices by as much as $48 per ton, which helps animal agriculture, the U.S. soybean industry’s No. 1 customer.