EIA: Biofuel capacity falls slightly in March, feedstock use up
June 1, 2021
BY Erin Voegele
The U.S. Energy Information Administration released data on May 28 that shows 20.577 billion gallons of U.S. biofuel production capacity was in place in March, down slightly from 20.64 billion gallons in February.
Fuel alcohol production capacity was down for the period, falling from 17.455 billion gallons in February to 17.376 billion gallons in March. Biodiesel capacity, however, increased from 2.394 billion gallons in February to 2.41 billion gallons in March. Capacity for other biofuels, including renewable diesel, renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, renewable naphtha, renewable gasoline and other renewable fuels, held steady at 791 million gallons.
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Approximately 23.499 billion pounds of corn went to biofuel production in March, up from 18.717 billion pounds in February. The EIA data shows no grain sorghum was used to produce U.S. biofuels during the month.
According to the EIA, 43 million pounds of poultry fat, 83 million pounds of beef tallow, 64 million pounds of white grease, 226 million pounds of yellow grease and 9 million pounds of other waste oils, fats and greases went to biofuel production in March, compared to 34 million pounds, 66 million pounds, 50 million pounds, 198 million pounds and 3 million pounds, respectively, in February.
A total of 123 million pounds of canola oil was used to produce biofuels in March, up from 85 million pounds in February. Corn oil use was also up, at 195 million pounds, compared to 155 million pounds in February. An additional 740 million pounds of soybean oil went to biofuel production in March, up from 552 million pounds the previous month.
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A total of 69 million pounds of other recycled feeds and wastes and other biofuel feedstocks were used to produce fuel in March, compared to 63 million pounds in February.
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