Canola Oil Used in US Biofuel Production Hits New High in 2022-23

The amount of canola oil used to produce US biofuels hit a new record high in 2022-23. 

The December edition of the USDA Oil Crops Outlook said canola oil use for biofuel production reached 2.9 billion lbs this past marketing year, up a hefty 1.6 billion from 2021-22 and accounting for 10% of all feedstocks, according to the final numbers from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), released in a report Nov. 30. 

The strong demand for canola oil use in biofuels was a result of US Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling in December 2022 that approved the canola oil pathway for renewable diesel, the Outlook report said. 

Amid sharply rising American renewable diesel production, Canadian canola oil exports to the US are booming. In 2022-23, Canada shipped a record 2.6 million tonnes across the border, accounting for 86% of all Canadian canola oil exports.  

In total, over 30 billion lbs of vegetable oils, waste oils, fats, and greases were consumed for US biofuel production in 2022-23, the Outlook report said. Soybean oil accounted for the largest portion of feedstocks consumed at 41%. The EIA reported that 1.2 billion of soybean oil was used for biofuels production in September, bringing total 2022-23 soybean oil use for production of biofuels to 12.5 billion pounds, 2.1 billion pounds higher than in 2021-22.  

The year-over-year increase is mainly due to the boost in soybean oil as a feedstock used in renewable diesel production, which grew from 3.1 billion lbs in 2021-22 to 5.3 billion lbs in 2022/23, the Outlook report said. 

The November EIA report indicated US renewable capacity reached 3.7 billion gallons, up 1.49 billion gallons from September 2022, whereas biodiesel capacity was down slightly at 2.07 billion gallons.  

“This growth in U.S. renewable diesel capacity is attributable to increasing the targets for state and federal renewable fuel programs and the renewal of biomass-based diesel tax credits,” the Outlook report said.