I got a newsletter in the snail mail from an agricultural property management firm. The current Spring 2022 newsletter (heck the whole thing is interesting) had a good article about Renewable Diesel and how that effects soybeans.
https://www.stalcupag.com/news.php
The newsletter is only available as PDF but no registration is required.
It appears renewable diesel is a lower polluting, lower carbon footprint, stopgap step between fossil fuel diesel and EV or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. It can be mixed with petrol diesel at any percentage. (See the Stalcup newsletter for details.)
https://www.biodieselsustainability.com/BASICS/biodiesel-and-renewable-diesel-basics/index.html
What is not clear is how much renewable diesel we can make with our current harvest of soybeans and if that is enough to make up for petroleum shortfalls due to the Russia - Ukraine war.
Anyway, this was all new to me but interesting.
Great! Our farmers will be using solid gold combines after this kicks in. Commercial soybean oil was invented here and 'beans' are still a favorite.
Soybean Oil Developed in Elizabeth City | NC DNCR
https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2017/02/07/soybean-oil-developed-elizabeth-city
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Top Soybean Producing US States - WorldAtlas
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-soybean-producing-us-states.html
I looked into this some years ago and in one EU study it was something like it would take some large percentage of arable land to meet 10% of the EUs energy needs. I can't find the reference and that's based on "first generation" methods (one's that can't use cellulosic feedstock).
I found this in my notes, but the links are long since broken. If I had to guess, this is from about 2005: "In 2002, the United States planted about 80 million acres of corn. Meeting one days' oil requirement for the US requires about 2.8 million acres of corn,
not counting the fuel lost in producing the ethanol. This means that if we quit eating corn, and it took no oil energy to actually produce ethanol and we turned it all over to fuel needs, we produce 28 days of fuel for the country."
In terms of land area required, by far the best option is algae. There are some issues with scaling it.
This is worth a read
Archer Daniels Midland: A Case Study in Corporate Welfare
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/archer-daniels-midland-case-study-corporate-welfare
QuoteAt least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected by the American government. Moreover, every $1 of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10, and every $1 of profits earned by its ethanol operation costs taxpayers $30
That's from back in 1995. I don't know how much it has changed, but there is no question that historically a lot of these biofuels projects have been less about energy sustainability and more about corporate and congressional sustainability.
> corporate welfare
Agreed on ethanol and really the idea of all these boutique summer blends of gasoline for each major metro area to control pollution is a dubious solution.
That's my worry with all these renewable fuels is that they are just a boondoggle.
I can see renewable diesel being a stopgap measure while we are transitioning from ICE trucks to EV or fuel cell trucks but only for a few years. Or we can go back to transport by rail and warehousing instead of just in time trucking long distance.