Soy biodiesel: Fuel made better
Today, Illinois, America and the world look for energy solutions that can help reduce our dependence on petroleum. Soy biodiesel represents one of the best options available now to provide renewable, sustainable fuel for all diesel users.
We have used soy biodiesel on our farm all year-round for several years. It just makes sense to use a product we helped produce as soybean farmers. Even biodiesel levels as low as 1 percent can provide up to a 65 percent increase in fuel lubricity, which can help extend the life of our diesel engines.
With good fuel management and fuel that meets industry quality standards, you can count on your biodiesel, even in the coldest winter months. Soy biodiesel meets the quality specifications of ASTM D 675 1.
The composition and cold flow properties of diesel fuels vary widely, as do the cold flow properties of biodiesel. For some tips on handling soy biodiesel in all weather conditions, visit www.biodiesel.org.
While the lubricity of soy biodiesel provides benefits to your engines, the increased demand for soybeans for biodiesel provides benefits to soybean farmers’ pocketbooks. A checkoff-funded study found U.S. soybean farmers received an additional $2.5 billion in net returns over the last four marketing years due to the biodiesel industry’s demand for soybean oil. This demand added up to 25 cents in support of the per-bushel price of soybeans.
Soy biodiesel faces some additional changes. Thankfully, all diesel users can take advantage of the state sales tax break on biodiesel blends. But the federal biodiesel tax credit lapsed at the end of last year, which could present challenges to the U.S. biodiesel industry in the future.
The National Biodiesel Board released a study that examined the economic impact of the biodiesel industry and the possible negative consequences Congress and the Administration could cause by allowing the tax credit to expire.
Allowing the credit to lapse could compound the already daunting challenges facing the industry and could cost the nation another 23,000 jobs in addition to the 29,000 jobs in the biodiesel industry that were lost in 2009 due to the economic downturn.
The economic analysis concludes that without the biodiesel tax incentive, there could be a major loss of jobs and income, increased demand for foreign oil, a degradation of energy security, decreased demand for soybean oil and lower soybean prices leading to a negative impact on farm income, stranded investment as biodiesel capacity is idled and lost tax revenue for states and local governments.
Did you know that in recent years, biodiesel manufacturers or fuel suppliers who blend biodiesel with petroleum diesel could get a refund from the Internal Revenue Service of a penny per gallon for every 1 percent of biodiesel they blended and sold with petroleum diesel? It’s one reason why soy biodiesel blends across the country should be cost-competitive with or even less than petroleum diesel.
While some challenges face the biodiesel industry today, it still has a bright future as a sustainable energy source. Studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy show that biodiesel can reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas by 78 percent. Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions are the aggregate quantity of greenhouse gas related to the full fuel cycle, including all stages of fuel and feedstock production and distribution, from feedstock generation and extraction through distribution and delivery and use of the finished fuel, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Add in the fact that biodiesel represents a renewable fuel source grown by America’s farmers rather than foreign oil interests and the benefits of biodiesel continue to grow. Let’s not forget - they’re our soybeans. Let’s put them to work for us. If you would like to learn more about how soybean farmers promote the growth of the biodiesel industry, visit www.unitedsoybean.org.
Sharon Covert is the director of the United Soybean Board and a Tiskilwa soybean farmer.
