Biodiesel Production Tops 1 Billion Gallons

WASHINGTON – New EPA statistics released Thursday show the biodiesel industry has cracked the 1 billion gallon mark for the third consecutive year, with several months of production remaining.

“This is a tremendous achievement that is a testament to the hard work of the biodiesel industry and the success of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) as an effective policy for diversifying our fuel supplies,” said Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board. “Biodiesel is proving that Advanced Biofuels are working now, and we need the Obama Administration and Congress to continue this success.”

Biodiesel is the first EPA-designated Advanced Biofuel to reach commercial-scale production nationwide and 1 billion gallons of annual production. With plants in almost every state in the country, the industry has surpassed RFS targets since the program began while using an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats.

The latest production figures, which cover volumes reported through September, show that the industry produced 140 million gallons in September, for a year-to-date biodiesel total of nearly 1.1 billion gallons.

EPA’s production volumes are reported under the Biomass-based Diesel category of the RFS. To view the figures, visit the EPA's website here. The monthly numbers show a total of nearly 167 million gallons under the Biomass-based Diesel category for the month of September. That total includes some 27 million gallons of renewable diesel, a diesel replacement similar to biodiesel that uses a different technology.

For the year, total Biomass-based Diesel production under the RFS stands at more than 1.2 billion gallons, on pace to reach some 1.7 billion gallons by year’s end, significantly exceeding the RFS requirement of 1.28 billion gallons.

NBB is the U.S. biodiesel trade association. Last year, the industry supported some 50,000 jobs nationwide. Under the EPA’s definition, Advanced Biofuels under the RFS must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared with petroleum diesel. The agency has determined that biodiesel’s reduction is 57 percent to 86 percent.