In Illinois, soybean is king and helps fuel everything from farmers to Chicago Park District trucks

On an idyllic summer morning, a Chicago Park District truck sat in front of Adler Planetarium readying for another day of keeping the city’s lakefront clean. Cyclists zipped past a breathtaking view of the iconic skyline on glittering Lake Michigan. But the park district’s seemingly humble refuse truck was also remarkable: It’s powered by biodiesel derived from soybeans.

About 80 park district vehicles are fueled by biodiesel blends made from refined soybean oil. That’s about 25% of its diesel fleet, which includes service and forestry trucks, tractors and mowers.

The parks department uses various kinds of clean energy for its vehicles and equipment. It started using soybean-based biodiesel blended with regular diesel in 2011. The liquid fuel can supplement regular diesel often used in heavy vehicles.

“It performs better than standard diesel, and the power is the same. It also benefits the health of our employees and park visitors,” Mike Dimitroff, manager of cultural and natural resources for Chicago Park District, said.

Eco-friendly biodiesel made from refined soybean oil boosts Illinois, the country’s largest producer of the crop.

Advocates tout biodiesel’s health and environmental benefits because it dramatically reduces air pollution compared to petroleum-based fuels. Biodiesel emits 50% to 80% less carbon than regular diesel.

“It gives the greatest carbon reduction per dollar spent,” Pete Probst, president of Chicago-based consultancy Indigenous Energy, said.

Soybean is king

Biodiesel can be made from soybean oil, used cooking oil or animal fat. But in Illinois, soybean is king. The state is the nation’s largest producer of the crop, according to the Illinois Soybean Association.

Illinois is already the country’s third-largest producer of ethanol, typically derived from corn and which complements gasoline in passenger vehicles. Overall, the U.S. commercial ethanol industry is older and far larger than biodiesel.

But biodiesel is growing and has potential for many kinds of transportation, including freight and shipping. Most U.S. soybeans are used to produce livestock feed and much is exported. Yet biodiesel creates an additional revenue stream for farmers and agriculture businesses.

Domestic markets for soybeans are especially appealing since tariffs have sharply disrupted international trade this year. Soybean farmers, including in Illinois, are especially vulnerable to volatility.

China, the largest export market for American soybeans, is the main target of President Donald Trump’s trade war. In response, China threatened retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products it imports, the majority of which are agricultural products, including soybeans.

An advantage of biodiesel is that liquid fuels have more power and can run longer than electric batteries, Probst said. That’s critical for heavy-duty use, “especially in hard-to-electrify sectors like rail, marine and long-haul trucking,” he said. “Biodiesel is a great starting point for heavy-duty fleets looking to decarbonize while electric technology catches up.”

Eighty percent of a soybean is protein, which creates soy meal. The other 20% is oil that can be refined for cooking, industrial use or fuel. However, markets for soybean oil are more limited.

But biodiesel demand has grown due to favorable government policies. Last year, 5.9 billion gallons of biodiesel were produced in the U.S., compared to 3 billion gallons in 2021, according to Clean Fuels Alliance America.

The industry aims to produce more than 6 billion gallons by 2030, said Jeff Earl, director of state governmental affairs for Clean Fuels Alliance.

Illinois has been a national leader in biodiesel for more than 20 years. In 2003, the state implemented a 6.25% sales tax exemption for fuel blended with biodiesel, making it cheaper, or the same price, as conventional diesel for consumers.

“The sales tax exemption has been a great success in boosting biodiesel in the state,” Earl said.

For biodiesel to be eligible for Illinois’ tax break, the blend threshold must be 17% . On April 1, 2026, the threshold will rise to 20%.

Biodiesel works in even higher blends. Seven park district trucks run on 100% biodiesel. Several of them service the city’s lakefront to minimize fumes for pedestrians, runners and cyclists.

Illinois was the country’s third-largest producer and consumer of biodiesel as of 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, after Iowa and Missouri.

The U.S. biodiesel industry started growing in the early 1990s when Missouri soybean farmers began trying to commercialize the fuel. Missouri soybean commodity groups funded biodiesel research and development and in 1992, founded the National SoyDiesel Development Board, which was renamed Clean Fuels Alliance.

Today, more than half of U.S. biodiesel production capacity is in the Midwest, primarily in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.

Over the years, biodiesel technology has improved and disproved misconceptions about performance. Certified biodiesel blends of 20% and below work without modifying vehicles and fuel pumps, Probst said.

Vehicles fueled with biodiesel “have logged billions of problem-free miles in all kinds of Illinois weather, including sub-zero temperatures,” according to the Illinois Soybean Association.

Incobrasa

Since 2021, the U.S. soybean crushing industry has invested more than $6 billion to expand capacity by more than 25% in response to growing biofuel demand, according to the National Oilseed Processors Association.

That includes companies such as Incobrasa Industries in Gilman, nearly two hours south of Chicago. Its soybean crushing and oil refining plant is the state’s largest biodiesel production facility, according to Incobrasa. Chevron Renewable Energy Group also has biodiesel plants in Danville and Seneca.

Incobrasa sources crops from 4,600 Illinois farms within a 50-mile radius. It stores tons of soybeans in massive silos and processes them in enormous industrial machines on its 800-acre site.

The company is in the midst of a big expansion that will add 80 million gallons of annual biodiesel production capacity by 2030 to its current capacity of 75 million gallons.

It will also more than double annual soybean crushing capacity from 40 million bushels currently to 98 million. Incobrasa expects to broaden sourcing from soybean farmers within an 80-mile radius.

Inside one of its facilities, machines whir as Incobrasa bottles white-label vegetable oil sold in retail stores nationwide. It also makes vegetable oil for USAID that is shipped to countries such as Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia, said Kerry Fogarty, Incobrasa’s quality control manager.

Demand for soybeans as food isn’t growing, but the biodiesel market is, said Aluizio Ribeiro, Incobrasa’s president. There is even more growth potential for using biodiesel in trains and ships, he added.

Aviation fuel made from biodiesel is also promising, said Stan Born, national director of the American Soybean Association and a farmer based in Lovington. But the sustainable aviation fuel industry “is still relatively young and needs support to get its legs,” Born said.

Biodiesel is also vulnerable to shifting government policies. Trump’s budget bill, signed in July, phases out many clean energy subsidies but was largely favorable toward biodiesel.

Brazilian-owned Incobrasa expanded into the U.S. with its Gilman facility in 1995. Initially, the plant crushed beans for soy meal and cooking oil; the commercial U.S. biodiesel market didn’t exist yet.

“We still had a great deal of soybean oil that needed a market. Biodiesel was the answer,” Fogarty said.

In 2004, Incobrasa added an oil refinery and a packaging facility for food-grade vegetable oil.

Today, about 90% of Incobrasa’s biodiesel is distributed in Illinois, Ribeiro said. That benefits the company because shorter supply chains are more efficient. Biodiesel can be found at mainstream gas stations that sell diesel, such as BP and Road Ranger.

Incobrasa is also insulated from trade wars and market volatility, Ribeiro added. The domestic biodiesel industry is shielded from tariffs, which are roiling U.S. farmers who rely on export markets. About 85% of Incobrasa’s soybeans come from farmers in Illinois with the rest sourced from nearby states, he said.

Biodiesel also creates valuable jobs in the rural economy. Incobrasa is the biggest employer in Iroquois County, said Rick Theesfeld, mayor of Gilman, which has a population of approximately 1,500. Incobrasa employs about 200 people and will add 100 jobs after its expansion.

“Places like this help our economy,” State Rep. Jason Bunting, R-Ill, said during a tour of Incobrasa’s facility this summer. “It keeps people here in the state so they don’t move out. It’s a huge shot in the arm to my district and this economy,” said Bunting, who is also a farmer growing corn and soybeans near Emington.

Born, of the American Soybean Association, grows soybean and corn on his farm in Lovington, about an hour from Champaign. He grew up on a farm and returned to growing in 2010, after he retired from his career as a Caterpillar executive.

For farmers, biodiesel creates more demand and diverse markets for soybeans as well as better prices for them, Born said. The fuel is also environmentally friendly.

“About half of the oil refined from my beans goes to this market so it’s a critically important end-use,” Born said. “The more demand we have, the better our markets become.”