The loss of China as a dominant buyer has left a hole in U.S. soybean demand that hasn’t been easy to fill. While export sales have held up better than expected elsewhere in the world, farmers and industry leaders are still asking the same question: Where will the next big wave of demand come from?
In an unexpected twist, some engineers in Iowa believe the answer might be right beneath our wheels and in the refineries used to fuel vehicles today.
A Parking Lot That’s Anything but Ordinary
From the sky, the parking lot at Iowa State University looks like any other — smooth, black pavement stretching across rows of cars. But a closer look reveals a surprising secret: this blacktop isn’t made with conventional petroleum products. Instead, it’s paved with soybeans.
“As a chemist, you look at the soybean molecule itself — it’s just an absolute dream,” says Eric Cochran, Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson & Randy L. Hagenson Professor at Iowa State. “It’s just a playground. There are so many different things you can do with it.”
For Cochran and his team, that “playground” led them to reimagine something as ordinary as pavement and, in the process, potentially open a powerful new market for American soybeans.
A Crisis Spurs Innovation
Soybean oil had been on the sidelines for decades, mostly used in food or as a fuel source. But around 2010, Cochran and his team discovered that the long molecular chains of soybean oil could be strung together to form elastic, rubber-like materials. Those properties mirror exactly what asphalt needs to survive the extremes of summer heat and winter freeze.
Traditionally, asphalt producers rely on synthetic polymers, particularly a petroleum-based product called SPS, to provide flexibility and strength. But in 2008, a global SPS shortage triggered a crisis in the asphalt industry. Just as panic was setting in, Cochran’s lab had an idea: What if soybean oil could fill the gap?
“It wasn’t long before [the Iowa Department of Transportation] was asking if they could try our new soybean rubber in asphalt,” Cochran recalls. “And things just kind of cascaded from there.”
From Pilot Plant to Proof of Concept
At first, the idea of soy-based pavement caught one civil engineers off guard.
“No, it was not on my radar at all,” admits Chris Williams, Gerald and Audrey Olson Professor in Civil Engineering at Iowa State University. “We had seen a lot of market increases in asphalt as supply was getting tight for demand. In the U.S., when we have an economic downturn, we correct that by investing in infrastructure. Everybody benefits — safer roads, better fuel economy, smoother rides and jobs.”
The team secured initial investment to build a pilot plant, their “first flag in the ground,” as Cochran puts it, proving soybean oil could be transformed into a durable, scalable pavement solution.
By 2018, that pilot plant produced its first soy-based asphalt. Over the next five years, with support from the Iowa Soybean Association and the United Soybean Board, the team ramped up production to showcase just how tough soy pavement can be.
“We formed a startup company in 2020,” Williams says. “We’ve worked out manufacturing issues, started getting customers, and now is really the time to take advantage of all this extensive testing.”
Consistency in a Volatile Market
Beyond its performance benefits, soy polymers bring something else to the table: predictability. Unlike petroleum-based polymers, which swing wildly with the energy markets, soybean oil prices are far more stable.
“When you look at price volatility of polymers, it’s a wide range,” Williams explains. “The consistency of soybean oil pricing is a lot less volatile. When you’re planning infrastructure projects four, five, 10 years out, lower volatility reduces risk and makes costs more predictable. That’s critical for how we invest in infrastructure.”
Soy polymers also fill critical supply gaps when refiners shift between crude petroleum and natural gas. When the market leans toward natural gas, the availability of butadiene, a key polymer ingredient, drops. Soy steps in to keep supply steady.
What’s Next? Rethinking the Refinery
Cochran and Williams believe the implications go far beyond the road surface. By redirecting soybean oil from fuel use to industrial materials, they say the U.S. can make its refineries more efficient and economically viable — at a time when refinery closures are becoming more frequent.
“Rather than burning it for energy, we could use it to really transform how the oil processing industry operates,” Cochran says. “Every ton of soybean oil we produce can become a permanent part of the pavements we drive on, and allow us to get more energy out of every barrel of crude oil.”
Williams notes there are just over 60 active refineries in the U.S., down from previous decades. Soy polymers could help keep these facilities competitive while enabling the production of more jet fuel and exportable products — boosting both rural and industrial economies.
From Fields to Freeways
While that might be more long-term, today, soy oil for asphalt is a reality. And years of research is finally paying off.
The researchers say each bushel of soybeans yields about 10.7 lb. of oil, and researchers are working on ways to squeeze even more value out of every drop. Their efforts have been fueled by farmer checkoff investments through the Iowa Soybean Association and United Soybean Board — groups that both Cochran and Williams say made the research possible.
It’s a road less traveled, quite literally. But this innovation is paving the way for a new domestic demand engine for U.S. soybeans — one that isn’t dependent on international trade flows or the whims of a single buyer.
And for farmers looking for the next “shining star” of soybean demand, the answer might already be under their tires.
