By Laura Temple 

Soybean oil and meal deliver countless sustainable, practical solutions for everyday life. Photo Credit: United Soybean Board

For soybeans to reach their full potential, they get broken down and taken apart. 

Crushing soybeans allows the oil to be extracted, which accounts for about 20% of the bean. Whole soybeans are ground, flaked or broken in other ways and then either mechanically pressed or mixed with a solvent to separate the oil from the rest of the bean, called meal. 

Refining that crude soybean oil creates the equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. It becomes an array of versatile products that can fry chicken fingers, increase water resistance in oil-based paints, fuel airplanes and much more. The chemical composition and flexibility of soybean oil allows it to replace petroleum-based ingredients in everything from artificial turf and shoes to plastics and tires. 

A cooking staple 

Soybean oil provides about one-third of the vegetable oil used around the world each year. Its neutral flavor blends smoothly into sauces, dressings and mayonnaise. Need shortening for baking? Or oil to sauté vegetables? An option for frying oil? Soybean oil works well in all those situations. Plus, high oleic soybean oil offers a fat profile similar to olive oil along with other benefits. 

Biobased manufacturing solutions 

Beyond the kitchen, soybean oil has been associated with candles and crayons, but that’s not all. It has become an attractive, renewable alternative to petrochemicals. Soybean oil adds a more sustainable component to asphalt, cleaning products, lubricants, furniture cushioning foam and much more. Replacing oil-based raw materials with those derived from soybean oil reduces the carbon footprint of the end product while maintaining or improving performance.  

Cleaner-burning fuel  

Soybean oil also serves as a common feedstock for biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. For example, it accounts for roughly 41% of the feedstocks used to produce biodiesel and renewable diesel, according to U.S. Soy estimates based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data.  

With so many uses, along with the growing demand for low-carbon fuel, the U.S. needs more soybean oil. To produce it, the capacity to crush soybeans is increasing. In 2023, three existing crush plants expanded, and a new facility opened in North Dakota. By 2026, five other expansions should be complete, along with 12 new plants throughout the country.  

New potential for soybean meal  

With that growth in soybean crushing, more soybean meal will be available, fueling innovative ways to use that portion of the soybean. 

Soybean meal contains protein and carbohydrates, making it an ideal ingredient for animal feed—its primary use. Investments in infrastructure, like an expansion at the Port of Grays Harbor in Washington state, will allow more U.S. soybean meal to be exported, benefitting even more pigs, chickens, fish and other animals around the world. 

And soybean meal can do more!  

• Firefighters can now use a new fire suppressant, SoyFoam TF1122, made with soy flour, to put out fires. It is free from harsh chemicals traditionally found in firefighting foam. 

• A Midwest chemist founded Renewable Green Composites, a start-up committed to creating plastics from soybean meal, just like Henry Ford did. 

• The protein in soybean meal can be spun into a soy-based skin replacement, OmegaSkin, that can help the body heal burns and open wounds. 

Together, soybean oil and meal deliver countless sustainable, practical solutions for everyday life.