use in the United States , currently representing about 30 % of domestic soybean oil disposition . Soybean oil is the most commonly used vegetable oil for biodiesel production , and inputs reached 7.1 billion pounds during the latest soybean oil marketing year ( MY ), which ran from October 1 , 2017 , to September 30 , 2018 . Growth in biodiesel production has coincided with federal biofuel mandates and other conditions that encouraged a larger share of the domestic soybean oil supply to be consumed as biofuel feedstock .
Biodiesel is a mixture of chemical compounds known as alkyl esters produced from a variety of vegetable oils , fats , and greases . Vegetable oils comprise about three-fourths of total biodiesel feedstock in the United States , with soybean oil accounting for slightly more than half of total inputs by weight . Smaller
U . S . soybean oil disposition ( market years 2011-2018 ) billion pounds
amounts of production vegetable oil for biodiesel production include distiller ’ s corn oil ( an inedible oil that is produced as a byproduct of the corn ethanol process ) and canola oil . Soybean oil and distiller ’ s corn oil are widely
U . S . biodiesel vegetable oil inputs ( market years 2011-2018 ) billion pounds
used because the feedstocks are produced in the Midwest , where most biofuel production capacity exists .
About half of U . S . raw soybeans are exported , and much of the rest is processed ,
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