(Radio Iowa) – One of the highest blends of biodiesel is now available at a retailer in central Iowa. B-99 contains just a tenth of a percent of petroleum-based diesel and it’s being sold at the Pilot Travel Center in Urbandale. Dave Walton, a soybean farmer from Wilton, says it’s a major milestone.

“It’s the lowest carbon fuel out that’s out there,” Walton says. “…On the health side, actually, the particulate matter is reduced by like 90% over petroleum diesel.” The B-99 terminal in Urbandale has two pumps. According to the Iowa Soybean Association, PepsiCo will fill its Des Moines-based distribution fleet there. Engines must be equipped with new technology to run on B-99.

Eric Fobes, a vice president for Pilot Travel Centers, says he hopes other carriers invest in the technology to cut carbon emissions. “Heavy duty trucking is very difficult to abate,” Fobes says. “This is a very unique solution to abate that carbon.” A ribbon cutting for the B-99 pump was held Thursday. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says it’s a big step.

B99 is being sold from this pump at a Pilot Travel Center in Urbandale, Iowa. (Brownfield Ag News photo by Brent Barnett)

“We can make this high-quality biofuel, but if it doesn’t make it into the supply chain, if it doesn’t end up in a fuel tank somewhere and get used then we haven’t really pulled the threat through,” Naig said. “We haven’t really completed the supply chain.”

B-99 is being sold at a Pilot Travel Center in Decatur, Illinois — the only other spot in the U-S where B-99 is available for sale in a retail setting. Iowa is the top biodiesel producing state, but the industry is in limbo. In January, five of the 10 plants shut down because a federal tax credit for biodiesel production expired at the end of 2024.