By Tom Hance
The primary market for canola oil is food. However, another important and growing market for the oil is renewable biofuel, typically biodiesel or renewable diesel and potentially sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the future. The biofuel market is growing as a result of policies and incentives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation fuel sector. Read More »
By Angela Dansby
U.S. and Canadian researchers discussed their findings on diseases, integrated pest management, pollinators, climate-smart agriculture, agronomy, plant breeding and genetics related to spring and/or winter canola at the 2023 National Canola Research Conference (NCRC) Oct. 30-31 in St. Louis. Normally held every four years in conjunction with the American Society of Agronomy meetings, the last NCRC was in 2018 and delayed a year due to COVID-19. Here is a snapshot of reported findings by category.
By Ed Prosser
Scoular announced on March 14 its recommissioning of a sunflower crush plant near Goodland, Kansas. The facility will crush canola and soybeans for the growing renewable fuels market. After 18 months of construction, we hope to begin production in the fall of 2024. Read More »
By Phil Van Trump
The world’s plastic waste crisis continues to grow every year, with the rate of plastic production increasing from 3.9 billion pounds in 1950 to an eye-popping 800 billion pounds in 2018. According to The Atlantic magazine, nearly half of all plastic worldwide that has ever been manufactured was created after the year 2004.
While recycling efforts have potential and are worthy of support, the truth is they currently have limited effectiveness and can only chip away at the edges of this problem. More than 85 percent of U.S. plastic waste went to landfills in 2021, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Danimer Scientific envisions an alternative path to reducing our world’s use of petroleum-based plastic — and U.S. canola producers are a key partner in bringing our vision to reality. Nodax®, our signature polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), is created using a 100 percent renewable and sustainable process that starts with bacteria fed oils derived from canola and other plants. The process is similar to the natural fermentation method that’s used to create wine, mead and beer. Read More »
By J. Alan Weber
The second half of 2022 provided U.S. canola producers quite a bit of optimism regarding new demand opportunities in the biofuels market. It began with the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge, a government-wide effort to reach 3 billion gallons per year of domestically produced renewable jet production with at least a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. Then, on Dec. 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final determination that canola oil-based renewable diesel, SAF, naphtha, heating oil, and liquified petroleum gas (propane) met the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction requirement of at least 50 percent under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to qualify as advanced biofuels. In fact, the EPA final rule conservatively estimated a reduction of 67 percent for canola renewable diesel compared to petroleum-based diesel and similar reductions for the other biofuels. Read More »
By Tom Hance
On Dec. 1, 2022, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final rule for Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) pathways for canola oil-based renewable diesel and related biofuels, it also issued a proposed rule for Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) for 2023-25. While biomass-based diesel (BBD) RFS volumes have largely been at the EPA’s discretion, this is the first time the agency has control of all RFS volumes and will set them for three years forward. Up to 2022, RFS volumes were set by legislative statute and implemented annually by the EPA. Read More »