Innovation And Technology Prove Soybean Oil’s Worth

 

The soy checkoff is working to turn soybean oil into liquid gold. Our soy checkoff is focused on proving the compositional value of our soybeans to end users, and it shows in our work in the area of soybean oil, which accounts for about 20 percent of a soybean’s mass.

 

Soybeans are crushed for meal. This unspoken belief permeates the soy value chain, supported by increases in the output of global animal ag operations and past blows to commodity soybean oil in food markets.

 

Through key investments by the United Soybean Board (USB), soybean oil has emerged as a significant and resilient value-driver for U.S. farmers. It boasts a diverse customer base, major growth potential, precision focus on end-user needs and unmatched flexibility in real-world applications.

 

“The uses and possibilities for soybean oil are almost endless,” says USB’s Oil Target Area Coordinator, Dan Farney. “I’m excited about what I’m hearing and seeing about oil building healthy markets for soybean farmers, especially when we get to high oleic oil.”

 

From a tractor’s tires to its paint to its seat cushions and even the fuel in its tank, soybean oil can lay claim to just about any industrial use you can imagine. Industries from baking to boat manufacturing, both domestically and abroad, all have their eye on soybean oil. 

 

And with near-infrared technology becoming more accessible to measure component amounts in soybeans, farmers can monitor the value of their oil and watch it rise as more industries put it to use.

 

In 1990, the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council funded a study with the University of Missouri to use a soy-based fuel as a diesel replacement. Since the success of that landmark study, the national soy checkoff has made significant contributions in the funding and promotion of this soy-based fuel, now known as biodiesel. The impact of these investments is staggering.

 

In the 2015/16 marketing year, the U.S. market used more than 5.6 billion pounds of soybean oil for biodiesel production, more than making up for lost food-oil demand.

 

Biodiesel has done a great job at soaking up lost food-oil demand for soybeans, but the checkoff has no plans of throwing in the towel when it comes to providing the food industry with an exceptional product.

 

Make that three exceptional products: high oleic, fully hydrogenated and interesterified soybean oil.

 

High oleic soybeans were developed by seed companies in the mid-2000s to produce a trans-fat-free soybean oil. The oil produced by these soybeans doesn’t need partial hydrogenation for stable shelf life. That means no trans fats and lower saturated fats than commodity soybean oil. On top of that, high oleic soybean oil brings superior cooking properties to the table, such as high heat stability and long usage life in deep fryers.

 

Before the food industry reopens the door to soybeans, they need assurance that there will be enough of this premium oil to warrant them making the switch.

 

The checkoff made significant investments in research with both Pioneer and Monsanto to accelerate the development of expanded high oleic maturity groups. Because of these investments, more farmers are able to grow them in more regions, giving oil buyers the confidence they need in a reliable high oleic supply.

 

“We’ve developed high-yielding high oleic soybean varieties with the right traits needed in geographies that source these products,” says Steve Schnebly, DuPont Pioneer senior research manager. “For now, that’s the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.

 

According to Schnebly, many farmers outside of those regions can look forward to growing high oleic in coming years.

 

“We’re also filling the research pipeline with other maturities for future geographies as the marketplace expands,” he says.

 

High oleic soybeans now have processors accepting them in 12 states, with expansion continuing each year. At their current growth rate, high oleic soybeans will become the fourth-largest grain and oilseed crop in the U.S. with 18 million planted acres. That equates to a major resurgence in the food industry and an overall increase in soybean value.

 

“One sign of confidence in our current Plenish® high oleic line of products is that we’ve got several growers who have dedicated their entire soybean production to high oleic varieties,” says Schnebly.

 

But what about commodity soybean oil? Is it forever banned from the kitchen? Not at all. Checkoff-funded research has created a home for additional commodity soybean oil in food uses.

 

Commodity soybean oil can be stabilized not only through partial hydrogenation, which produces a liquid oil, but also full hydrogenation, which produces a trans-fat-free solid oil. Fully hydrogenated commodity soybean oil can be blended with high oleic oil for bakery applications that require harder lipids.

 

Interesterified soybean oil is another form of commodity soybean oil that comes free of trans fats. This oil, which serves the same purposes as typical shortenings, can be tailored to end users’ needs with customized melting points.

 

“The advantage of interesterified soybean oil for end users is that it provides the same functionality as partially hydrogenated soy oil with advantages over the palm oil alternative,” says Darren Moody, liquid oil product manager for Bunge. “An additional upside is that soy oil has a shorter supply chain because the source is home-grown, coming from American soybean fields.”

 

These checkoff-funded innovations in the fuel and food industries have turned oil into a shining star for soybean farmers. And it only gets better from here.

 

Soybean oil’s sustainability and versatility lend themselves perfectly to myriad industrial uses that open countless doors for new uses.

 

Sheldon Chesky is the CEO of Biospan Technologies, Inc., which has taken full advantage of soybean oil’s attributes.

 

“Soybean oil is a complex molecule, allowing us to use soy oil in intermediate as well as end-use functions,” he says.

 

Both intermediates, such as foams found in car seats and mattresses, and end-use products like lubricants, hold the potential of even more demand for farmers.

 

“One area of growing potential in industrial applications is replacing petroleum uses across a whole host of varied industries,” says Chesky. “It’s simply a wonderful – and renewable – resource.”

 

The United Soybean Board is investing in tomorrow’s innovations today, aggressively pursuing opportunities to further diversify soybean oil’s portfolio and find the next large-volume use. Tomorrow’s farmers may look back and see high oleic and biodiesel as the tip of the iceberg for oil.

 

These unfolding success stories prove considering the compositional quality of soybeans, and measuring the value in each part of the bean is how soybean farmers and the entire soy value chain win.

 

The evidence is the serious value-driving punch oil packs for U.S. soybean farmers.

 

 

In business, success is all about the ceaseless quest to develop advantages over competitors.

 

Goodyear secured its latest competitive advantage with soybean oil, which helped its new Assurance® WeatherReady™ tire achieve excellent performance in dry, wet and winter conditions for true all-season performance.

 

Over the past six years, the checkoff worked with Goodyear to develop soy-based technology that would add performance to road tires. Goodyear harnessed this new technology to reach the aggressive level of traction it was looking for in the Assurance WeatherReady tire.

 

This marks a huge win for the soy industry, which supports research with industrial partners such as Goodyear to innovate, develop new uses and reach new customers with soybean oil.

 

“The checkoff was established to bring profit back to farmers,” says USB farmer-leader Larry Marek. “Our win with the WeatherReady tire is the latest example of how farmers’ investments are working for them through the checkoff.”

 

The checkoff hosts technical meetings to share innovative ideas with leading manufacturers to help them bring more sustainable, better performing products to market.

 

Goodyear had been evaluating soybean oil as an ingredient in compound formulations for some time. When Goodyear learned about Ford Motor Company’s success experimenting with soy-based rubber at one of these meetings in 2011, it decided to expand those efforts.

 

“Sustainability was a factor that led us to evaluate soybean oil as a material,” says Bob Woloszynek, lead engineer in Goodyear’s global material science organization. “But for an ingredient to make it into a product, it has to deliver true performance.”

 

In their early research, Goodyear scientists and engineers evaluated how soybean oil might behave in product applications. They looked at traits such as compatibility with other tire materials, curing attributes, thermal stability and mixing capability with rubber polymers.

 

“We saw some pretty promising results initially just by adding the soybean oil without modification into a compound formulation,” Woloszynek says. 

 

They discovered that soybean oil could improve tire flexibility at low temperatures. This helps keep the rubber pliable in cold weather and improves traction in rain and snow simultaneously.

 

“One of the things that makes soybean oil unique is its ability to help provide traction performance in both wet and winter conditions,” says Woloszynek. “We were able to break the trade-off between true wet performance and true winter performance and achieve both simultaneously, which is a significant challenge.”

 

Goodyear also found that soybean oil mixes more easily with rubber compounds used to make tires, leading to reduced energy consumption, therefore improving the manufacturing efficiency.

 

“With such a complex tire build, this was a joint effort between many groups,” said Lauren Brace, a Goodyear compound developer. “It was exciting to explore and expand our toolbox.”

 

The iterative process resulted in a soy-based tire that performs exceedingly well in all seasons and conditions. Soybean oil shined at each stage of the process, bringing new capabilities to Goodyear’s tire technology and supporting its commitment to innovation that leads to consumer benefits.

 

“I’m thrilled that the technology is now being put to use to bring value to Goodyear and its customers,” says Woloszynek. “In the end, soybean oil was one of the technologies enabling us to meet a challenging performance goal, and that’s something the entire team worked toward throughout the process. The support we received from the checkoff also played a significant role in the success of this project.”

 

 

More than one-third of U.S. soybean oil goes into products, including biodiesel, made with soy technology developed with checkoff support.

 

The number of brand-name products continues to grow each year as manufacturers use soy to drive corporate sustainability efforts, reduce their dependency on petroleum, and create better-performing products that are better for the environment.

 

“We are committed to accelerating sustainable mobility solutions as part of Bridgestone’s ‘Our Way to Serve’ corporate social responsibility program,” says Tom Rodgers, executive director, Bridgestone agricultural solutions. “Our objective is to engineer high-performing products in the most responsible and sustainable way. Producing ag tires that incorporate soybean oil is a natural fit.” In 2014 the company started using soybean oil in all of the ag tires produced in its Des Moines, Iowa, plant.

 

Last year, Bridgestone® used 380,000 pounds of soybean oil in Firestone® ag tires. The company continues to research ways to incorporate even more at the Bridgestone Americas Technical Center in Akron, Ohio.