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that we possessed feedstock for a biodiesel plant , encouraging us to investigate further . Thus , after consideration , we constructed a biodiesel plant on our premises , initially producing 30 million gallons per year . Following several upgrades , we now boast an annual production of 75 million gallons . The journey to achieve this figure has been quite bumpy , prompting us to ask the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for additional throughput capabilities in our biodiesel plants . Frequent changes in US policy have presented hurdles , with expired government incentives negatively affecting biodiesel production . Even though Congress regularly renews these incentives , the unpredictable nature of the policy has made it challenging for companies like ours to plan for the future ,” he begins .
Expanding operations
Moving back to the present day , Kerry provides more insight into Incobrasa ’ s operational footprint . “ In 2019 , our production capabilities surged from 27 million to 40 million bushels per year . This increased production rate on the crushing side provides additional feedstock for the biodiesel plant .
Additionally , this also empowered us to create more animal feed , given the symbiotic relationship between oil and feed production from soybeans . We are currently constructing another soybean crushing plant to elevate our crushing capacity to 80-to-98 million bushels per year , effectively doubling our vegetable oil production at the same time . This additional oil can either be refined and packaged or converted into biodiesel ,” he informs .
Biodiesel is currently a hot topic across the world due to its role in the grand scheme of sustainability . Kerry discusses how Incobrasa is transitioning to more eco-friendly practices .
“ I believe that Incobrasa owes much of its success to biodiesel . Like I said earlier , vegetable oil prices were incredibly low when Incobrasa first started . Besides , there was no demand for vegetable oil , so we hardly made any profit out of it . Luckily , the rise of biodiesel greatly influenced vegetable oil prices , leading to an increase from $ 0.15 to $ 0.75 per pound in a relatively short amount of time . It ’ s important to note that when soybeans are crushed for biodiesel , the process generates a surplus of animal feed , because these two products are intertwined . Thus , incentivizing
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