Food, Oil Companies To Co-Produce Biodiesel

Food, Oil Companies To Co-Produce Biodiesel

Tyson Foods and ConocoPhillips announced Monday they had formed an alliance to produce and market diesel fuel made from pork, poultry and beef fat.

Tyson will provide the feedstock from its rendering plants. ConocoPhillips will refine it and distribute it through its existing pipelines. The fuel, said to burn cleaner than conventional diesel, will be available by year-end. The venture will produce 175 million gallons a year by 2009.

The deal points to two emerging trends: the shift of agribusiness to transportation fuel and the surge in biodiesel, expected to grow to 1.2 billion gallons in a decade from today’s 250 million gallons.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.