MT. VERNON, Ind. – A long-established farmer-owned cooperative will begin using soybeans for the first time to make a renewable blend of higher performing diesel fuel at its Indiana refinery.

CountryMark spent $100 million on what’s possibly the most extensive upgrade in the history of its refinery in Mt. Vernon, which was established after crude oil was discovered in the community west of Evansville in 1938.

The completion of the project was marked by a ribbon cutting in July but the processing of soybeans into oil for use in the fuel blend isn’t expected to begin until sometime in September, according to company officials.

The improvements will give the refinery the ability to use up to 20 million gallons of refined, bleached and deodorized soybean oil in its diesel blended fuel annually.

The upgrades included the addition of catalysts to help with an ISO dewaxing process that allows more of the heavier molecules in soybean oil to be used for diesel production.

“Using these heavier molecules gives the fuel exceptional power and high octane without sacrificing winter performance capabilities of the fuel,” said CountryMark President and CEO Matt Smorch.

Other key improvements include a new reactor and a soybean oil offloading rack and storage.

Smorch said the fuel, which will contain up to 10 percent soybean oil, is different in several ways from biodiesel, which can be made with soybean oil, animal fat and used cooking oil.

“Renewal diesel meets ASTM D975 diesel specifications, is stable in long-term storage and has a low cloud point while biodiesel does not have those characteristics,” he said.

Other fuel already produced by the refinery includes biodiesel, gasoline along with lubricants such as diesel and gasoline engine oils, tractor exhaust fluid, hydraulic oil, grease, transmission fluid and gear oil. 

The refinery has grown from processing 2,000 to 35,000 barrels of local crude oil daily. Currently, the refinery churns out more than 525 million gallons of finished fuel products per year.

The fuel is delivered to co-ops for distribution to farmers and to more than 100 CountryMark-owned gas stations for use by the traveling public.

The gas stations are primarily located throughout much of Indiana with some locations in western Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Michigan.

A tour of the refinery as part of the ribbon cutting was taken by company leaders, government officials and community stakeholders.

Gratitude was also expressed by the company to its employees and others like Indiana Farm Bureau and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture for their involvement and support of the expansion, which began last fall after several years of engineering development.

“This approach, which we have taken, will allow CountryMark to produce renewable fuel, reduce the carbon intensity of our fuel and do so in the most cost-effective manner possible by utilizing existing refining assets and expertise,” Smorch said.

He also told Hoosier Ag Today that making renewable diesel fuel is like a “new start” for the company.

“We can differentiate ourselves even further from our competitors in the marketplace and also make that investment to make sure that the farmers who own us, their assets are going to be here for many, many years,” he said.

Smorch also told Hoosier Ag today other winners include farmers selling their soybeans for use in making the fuel.

“We’re taking soybeans from Indiana farmers and we’re going to crush them to make oil. Then, we’ll refine that oil into renewable diesel and then sell that renewable diesel back to the farmers that are growing the soybeans. It’s going to be great for their business and it ends up generating a circular economy,” he said.

According to company officials, renewable diesel fuel blends have been available on America’s West Coast since 2010 but the upgraded refinery is Indiana’s first commercially available renewable diesel fuel production facility. CountryMark is headquartered in Indianapolis.