The National Biodiesel Board announced a new vision touting biodiesel, renewable diesel, and renewable jet fuel to be recognized as premium products at their annual conference taking place in Tampa this week. The industry has a goal to produce six billion gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel by 2030 and with the advancement of feedstocks, believe they can reach 15 billion gallons by 2050. Donnell Rehagen, CEO of NBB, said while it sounds aggressive, he’s confident producers can do it. “One of the big things is for our soybean farmers. They are going to see continued growth in demand for soybean oil and biodiesel,” Rehagen told media attending the event. “There’s just not a logical way at this point, with the feedstocks that are out there, for us to go from three billion to six billion without 90 percent of that growth coming through soybean oil-based biodiesel and renewable diesel.” Rehagen said the increase would eliminate over 35 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases annually. The board's plan states there is “no logical path to zero carbon” without growing volumes of carbonless transportation fuels like biodiesel and renewable diesel. They are also going into 2020 with more certainty and positivity than years prior. In December, Congress passed legislation extending the biodiesel tax credit until 2022. The $1-a-gallon tax credit subsidizing biodiesel and renewable biodiesel production lapsed at the end of 2017.
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