Iowa is the place to buy biodiesel fuel. Biodiesel sales in the state doubled from 2023 to 2024. Pilot Travel Centers also recently launched a B99 biodiesel pump for fleet usage at one of its Des Moines travel centers. These statistics highlight a demand for more sustainable fuel options among fleets and consumers alike.
Grant Kimberley, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, attributes the increase in biodiesel sales and the addition of the new pump to the state's local policies and incentives to get the fuel into the mainstream. After all, Iowa is the nation’s leading biodiesel producer, and any increase in sales is a bump for the state’s local economy.
But could Iowa’s success in normalizing biodiesel consumption spread across the country? It’s possible—but that would require effort from both state governments and the federal government.
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How Iowa increased biodiesel sales
For Iowa, incentivizing retailers spurred demand for biodiesel.
“It really comes down to our state policymakers recognizing the value of incentivizing biodiesel and biofuels in the state of Iowa through the tax credit policies we've had in place,” Kimberley told FleetOwner.
Some of these local incentives have been in place since 2006; others have been added or amended over the years. The federal government has followed suit with its own incentives that, like Iowa’s, have been amended over time. In the “early days,” Kimberley recalled, these credits were available to retailers who sold diesel blends with 5% biodiesel (B5).
“Then they moved up to the B10 and B11 blends—we still do have some credits for that,” Kimberley said, “and then now, even higher blends like B20 and B30.”
Iowa also offers incentives to help retailers prepare their businesses for the addition of biodiesel facilities.
“We do have what we call the Renewable Fuel Infrastructure Program,” Kimberley said, which allows retailers to “get up to 50% of the cost of putting in new tanks, pumps, blending facilities, what have you.”
These cost-share grants allow retailers to receive up to $50,000 for a retail facility, or up to $100,000 if it's a B100 (pure biodiesel) blending facility or terminal.
Iowa has also invested in biodiesel marketing campaigns and consumer education, working with its patrolling marketers and the Iowa Motor Truck Association. The state has also benefited from national campaigns facilitated by Clean Fuels Alliance America and the National Association of Truck Stop Operators.
Another reason consumers and retailers alike would consider biodiesel comes down to dollars and cents.
“Quite frankly, people are using it because they just see it's a better economic opportunity,” Kimberley said. “Then once they get used to using it, [they think], ‘Oh yeah, this stuff works, and it's great.’”
Biodiesel in other states
Texas, the nation’s second-highest producer of biodiesel, and California are the nation’s top consumers of the alternative fuel. Texas held the record for the most biodiesel consumed from 2010 to 2018, nearly exclusively as a transportation fuel.
The fuel’s popularity in the state can be attributed to the state’s requirements that government fleets consist of 50% vehicles that can operate on alternative fuels and government incentives offered, including a tax exemption.
California has also become a hefty consumer. In 2023, the state consumed the most biodiesel of any other. This is largely due to the state’s incentives, such as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which offers financial credits to producers of biofuels, and the Cap-and-Trade Program, which places an emissions cap on industries that generate GHG emissions, such as transportation.
Biodiesel consumers and producers in both Texas and California have also benefited from federal programs and incentives.
Other states have similar incentives or regulations, Kimberley said.
“Minnesota has a biodiesel mandate,” he explained. “Other states have various versions or hybrids of something like that, or something like California has ... Others, like Missouri, have a similar tax incentive policy like we have in Iowa—and Illinois has some things like that too.”
According to the Environmental Information Agency’s latest data from 2023, most of the nation’s top consumers of biodiesel have these incentives or regulations in place. This fact highlights that it takes both a state and federal effort to bring biodiesel to the mainstream.
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Why biodiesel?
Although Iowa and other midwestern states promote biodiesel because it has a positive effect on their local economy, other states promote the alternative fuel because it produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than pure diesel fuel.
Biodiesel is categorized into different blends. B5 biodiesel indicates that up to 5% of the fuel mixture is biodiesel, and the other 95% is petroleum diesel. Other blends include B11, B20, etc. B99 biodiesel is a blend of 99% biodiesel and 1% petroleum diesel. The higher the biodiesel blend, the lower GHG emissions it will produce. The Argonne National Laboratory found that B100 (100% biodiesel) produces 74% less GHG emissions than petroleum diesel.
This fact—coupled with an economic benefit—is one reason why fleets have chosen to use the fuel. PepsiCo, No. 2 on the 2025 FleetOwner: 500 Private list, has used B99 blends of biodiesel since 2022 in an effort to reduce its overall carbon footprint.
“In the U.S., PepsiCo began utilizing B99 biodiesel in 2022 as part of our broader strategy to reduce fleet emissions through low-carbon solutions,” Adam Buttgenbach, PepsiCo’s director of fleet engineering and sustainability, told FleetOwner.
The fleet uses multiple fuel types to achieve its goals but deploys B99 primarily in the Central and Eastern regions of the U.S., he said.
Because the use of biodiesel blends higher than B20 requires engine modifications, PepsiCo partnered with Optimus Technologies to enable its existing fleet to operate on up to B100 biodiesel. So far, “hundreds” of PepsiCo trucks can operate on biodiesel blends of B100, Buttgenbach said.
PepsiCo prefers biodiesel because of its “carbon emissions reduction and operational resilience,” according to Buttgenbach.
“This initiative has contributed to lowering our Scope 1 emissions,” he said. “From an operational standpoint, driver experience has remained consistent, with minimal changes required in vehicle handling or fueling procedures.”
Fleets that consider switching to higher biodiesel blends for their vehicles will likely benefit in the same way PepsiCo did. However, Buttgenbach believes interested fleets should weigh the pros and cons before implementing anything new to the fleet, as different duty cycles could benefit more from different types of alternative fuels.
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The Iowa Biodiesel Board and Iowa Soybean Association see the addition of the new B99 fuel pump at the Des Moines Pilot Travel Center as well as the increase in biodiesel sales as a significant step forward in “transforming how we fuel the future,” Kimberley said in a press release.
With a state-level and federal push to incentivize the use and sale of the fuel, other states could see a similar rise in the biofuel’s popularity.
