(Credit: Pixabay)Leaders from ADM and Marathon Petroleum, along with local, state, and federal policymakers, today celebrated the groundbreaking for North Dakota’s first dedicated soybean processing facility. By harvest 2023, the plant – owned by the previously announced ADM-MPC joint venture Green Bison Soy Processing – is expected to be producing approximately 600 million pounds of refined vegetable oil annually, which will be supplied exclusively to MPC as a feedstock for renewable diesel.
ADM says renewable diesel is a potentially transformative opportunity for the oilseed industry, for farmers, and for the sustainability of the transportation system.
When complete, the approximately $350 million complex, known as the Green Bison Soy Processing Facility, will feature state-of-the-art automation technology and is expected to have the capacity to process 150,000 bushels of soybeans per day. Vegetable oil from the plant will be supplied exclusively to MPC to serve as feedstock for the production of a targeted 75 million gallons of renewable diesel annually.
Demand for renewable diesel has grown tremendously in the past several years. In fact, US Foods Holding Corp. recently detailed how it will convert all California broadline distribution centers’ onsite fueling to 100% renewable diesel fuel by mid-2022.
And in January, ExxonMobil announced it is expanding its interests in biofuels that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, acquiring a 49.9% stake in Biojet AS, a Norwegian biofuels company that plans to convert forestry and wood-based construction waste into lower-emissions biofuels and biofuel components.
