One of the highest blends of biodiesel is now available at a retailer in central Iowa. B99 contains just a tenth of a percent of petroleum-based diesel and it’s being sold at the Pilot Travel Center in Urbandale.
Dave Walton, a soybean farmer from Wilton, said it’s a major milestone. “It’s the lowest carbon fuel out that’s out there,” Walton says. “…On the health side, actually, the particulate matter is reduced by like 90% over petroleum diesel.”
The B99 terminal in Urbandale has two pumps. According to the Iowa Soybean Association, PepsiCo will fill its Des Moines-based distribution fleet there. Engines must be equipped with new technology to run on B99. Eric Fobes, a vice president for Pilot Travel Centers, said he hopes other carriers invest in the technology to cut carbon emissions. “Heavy duty trucking is very difficult to abate,” Fobes said. “This is a very unique solution to abate that carbon.”
A ribbon cutting for the B99 pump was held Thursday. “We can make this high-quality biofuel, but if it doesn’t make it into the supply chain, if it doesn’t end up in a fuel tank somewhere and get used then we haven’t really pulled the threat through,” Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said. “We haven’t really completed the supply chain.”
Iowa is the top biodiesel producing state, but the industry is in limbo. In January, five of the 10 plants shut down because a federal tax credit for biodiesel production expired at the end of 2024.
(By Brent Barnett, Brownfield Ag News)