Monthly biodiesel production nationwide rose in December 2019 over the previous month from 127 million gallons up to 133 million gallons according to the Monthly Biodiesel Production Report compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration and released Feb. 28.
The report is released two months in arrears.
There are 91 biodiesel plants nationwide with a current capacity of 2.5 billion gallons per year or 298.3 million gallons per month.
While December saw an increase, it was the first month over month increase since July, and each month since May has seen lower production than their respective months in 2018, with overall production for 2019 lower than the previous year.
Biodiesel is produced through the transesterification of fats and oils into biodiesel and a useful byproduct, glycerin.
Biodiesel can be used directly as fuel or is often mixed with other petroleum products to create specialty fuels. While 1,023 million pounds of feedstocks were used in December 2019 to produce biodiesel, soybean oil continued to dominate with over 50% usage in production.