US biodiesel production hits 159 million gallons in December, up 8 million from November

U.S. biodiesel production in December was 159 million gallons, up 8 million gallons from November, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Distillers corn oil uptake remained strong at 147 million pounds, or 12.5 percent of all the feedstock consumed in December by domestic biodiesel producers, constituting the third largest volumes of the year behind the pre-pandemic month of January (177 million pounds) and closely following August (148 million pounds).

Midwestern biodiesel production accounted for 72 percent of the U.S. total in December. Eighty-five biodiesel plants with a total annual productive capacity of 2.5 billion gallons were responsible for the December volumes, according to EIA.

Producer sales of biodiesel in December included 74 million gallons sold as B100 and another 73 million gallons of B100 sold in blends with petroleum diesel fuel.

Approximately 1.176 billion pounds of feedstocks were consumed for U.S. biodiesel production in December, including:

• 744 million pounds of soybean oil (63 percent), up from 683 million pounds in November

• 147 million pounds of distillers corn oil (12.5 percent), up from 133 million pounds the month prior

• 86 million pounds of yellow grease (7.3 percent), down noticeably from 112 million pounds in November

• 57 million pounds of white grease (4.85 percent), up from 53 million pounds the previous month

• 38 million pounds of tallow (3.23 percent), up from 33 million pounds in November

• 7 million pounds of poultry grease (0.6 percent), just half of the 14 million pounds used in November and a third of the 21 million pounds consumed in October