The US biofuel sector’s use of vegetable oil as a feedstock increased again in May, with capacity also continuing to expand, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday July 31 showed.

The biofuel industry consumed 1.81 billion lb of vegetable oil during the month, up by 2.5% from the 1.77 billion lb used by the sector in April and virtually flat from the level reported in May 2023.

Biodiesel and renewable diesel (RD) capacity in the US grew for a second consecutive month in May, the data also showed. Combined capacity increased by 7.8% to an all-time high of close to 6.6 billion gallons, up from 6.12 billion gallons in April.

RD capacity increased by 445 million gallons month on month to 4.58 billion gallons in May. This was up by more than 10% from April and was due, in part, to the ramp up of Phillips 66’s large Rodeo renewable facility in California.

…