Officials with the Green Bison soybean processing plant, located in Spiritwood, North Dakota, announced on their website that the facility will be operational in time for harvest this year.
The $350 million facility, a joint venture between ADM (75% owner) and Marathon Petroleum (25% owner), will become the state’s first dedicated soybean crushing plant and refinery. It's expected to produce approximately 600 million pounds of refined vegetable oil annually, which will be supplied exclusively to Marathon as a feedstock for renewable diesel.
"Renewable diesel is a potentially transformative opportunity for the oilseed industry, for farmers, and for the sustainability of our transportation system," said Ken Campbell, ADM’s president of North America Oils, Biodiesel and Renewable Chemicals, during the facility's groundbreaking in June 2022.
“The need for lower-carbon, more sustainable products is one of the fundamental trends underlying ADM’s strategy and purpose, and we’re proud to continue to scale up our leadership in this critical area,” Campbell added.
According to reports, Green Bison plans to begin taking deliveries of new crop soybeans as early as late September. The facility features two truck receiving pits, each with the capacity to unload 20 trucks/pit/hour.
The actual processing is slated to begin in October with a planned capacity of 150,000 bushels of soybeans each day.
Vegetable oil from the plant will be supplied exclusively to Marathon to serve as feedstock for the production of a targeted 75 million gallons of renewable diesel annually. The oil will be shipped daily by rail to Dickinson for conversion to biodiesel. The facility will also generate 1.28 million tons of soybean meal, supporting animal agriculture production in the region.
