Fueling Congressional Insight: Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel, and Sustainable Aviation Fuel
A recent tour hosted by Clean Fuels Foundation provided an opportunity to educate Congressional staff about the importance of continued growth in biodiesel and renewable diesel sectors as well as future market opportunities for sustainable aviation fuel.
What is Biodiesel?
Biodiesel, made from soybean oil, is a cleaner-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is widely available across the U.S. Renewable diesel, made from soybean oil, is chemically identical to petroleum diesel and is available for existing infrastructure and diesel engines. It’s primarily available in west coast states in markets with low carbon initiatives.
The 2023 California Clean Fuels Congressional Tour
Indiana Soybean Alliance Biofuels Director Helena Jette participated in the event and says it was a great opportunity to highlight the economic impact and growing demand of the clean fuels industry.
“No matter what position a (Congressional staffer) has, if it’s going to involve agriculture, they need to have some baseline understanding of the biofuel supply chain before they can advise or give information to leadership, whoever that may be,” she says. “This tour helped provide some of that necessary background information.”
The 2023 California Clean Fuels Congressional Tour included a visit to the World Energy’s Paramount facility, which is undergoing a $2 billion expansion to produce 350 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel a year by 2025. The company plans to have one billion gallons of SAF production by 2030.
Jette says farmers are benefiting from growth in these markets. For example, increased demand for soybean oil to produce biodiesel has increased farmer income by 63 cents a bushel.
“Biodiesel and renewable diesel are important to soybean farmers and so sustainable aviation fuel is another big future market we have to be sure we’re in,” she says. “We have to make sure our products are used in these markets.”
World Energy plans to use soybean oil as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel, but there are some logistics to work out with modeling to more accurately capture the environmental benefits of biofuels including SAF, Jette says.
Amber Resources & Port of Long Beach
Other stops on the congressional tour included Amber Resources and the Port of Long Beach.
Amber Resources sells Chevron Renewable Energy Group UltraClean BlenD™ fuels, which combines renewable diesel and biodiesel to help meet low carbon goals. The facility also provides wet-house fueling services for over-the-road trucking.
Attendees learned that the Port of Long Beach moves more than $200 billion in cargo a year and exports the largest volume of containerized cargo in the country. Together, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles move nearly 40 percent of the nation’s containerized import cargo, support 2.5 million U.S. jobs, and generate $97 billion in local, state, and federal tax revenues annually. Cargo through these ports reaches every congressional district in the United States.
Indiana Soybean Alliance was a sponsor of the event.
Biofuels Education & Information
“We want to make sure we are supporting the educational and informational foundation when it comes to biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel tours to reinforce the great work being done by our Indiana soybean farmers,” Jette says. “We recognize the importance of showing our support for other industries that are supporting our product.”
House and Senate staffers participated in the event as well as representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, National Renewable Energy Lab, and more.
Other sponsors of the California Clean Fuels Foundation tour included ADM, AGP, Chevron Renewable Energy Group, Clean Fuels Alliance America, Darling Ingredients Inc., Incobrasa, Innovative Ag Services, Minnesota Soybean Processors, and Western Iowa Energy.
Learn more about our biofuels and growing the biofuels market:
