Photo: AGP
August 25, 2017
BY Ron Kotrba
AGP recently completed a major expansion project at its Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, biodiesel production facility—the nation’s first commercial-scale biodiesel plant, built in 1996. Production capacity at AGP’s Sergeant Bluff biodiesel plant doubled from 30 to 60 MMgy. The biodiesel expansion project was first announced November 2015.
Officials at the company told Biodiesel Magazine that the biodiesel expansion project was completed July 23 and the plant is now operating at its increased annual capacity.
The biodiesel expansion project was coupled with construction of AGP’s new on-site soybean oil refinery, which supplies feedstock to the biodiesel plant.
AGP’s Sergeant Bluff complex in Iowa now features integrated soybean processing, soybean oil refining and large-scale biodiesel production.
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AGP owns nine soybean processing facilities across the Midwest—with its tenth currently under construction in Aberdeen, South Dakota—and three biodiesel production facilities with installed capacity totaling 150 MMgy.
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The USDA reduced its estimate for 2024-’25 soybean use in biofuel production in its latest WASDE report, released May 12. The agency expects soybean oil use in biofuel to increase during the 2025-’26 marketing year.
HutanBio on May 8 announced that the production process for its proprietary HBx microalgal biofuel achieves net-negative carbon emissions, based on an independent cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) conducted by EcoAct.
According to a new economic contribution study released by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association on May 6, Iowa biofuels production has begun to reflect stagnant corn demand throughout the agriculture economy.
Repsol and Bunge on April 25 announced plans to incorporate the use of camelina and safflower feedstocks in the production of renewable fuels, including renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
U.S. operable biofuel capacity in February was unchanged from the previous month, according to data released by the U.S. EIA on April 30. Feedstock consumption for February was down when compared to both January 2025 and February 2024.