While the ethanol industry has been praising the USDA’s report entitled “Roadmap to Meeting the Biofuels Goals of the Renewable Fuels Standard by 2022,″ there’s plenty in there for biodiesel fans to like as well.

The feds are optimistic that biodiesel will be able to carry its share of the overall 36 billion gallons of biofuels goal:

The U.S biofuels industry is on track to produce 1 billion gallons of biodiesel by 2022. In 2009, the United States already produced 550 million gallons of biodiesel. There are presently 173 plants and nearly as many companies that have invested millions of dollars into the development of biodiesel manufacturing plants and are actively marketing biodiesel. Twenty-nine companies have reported that they have plants currently under construction and are scheduled to be completed within the next 12-18 months. Their combined capacity, if realized, would result in another 427.8 million gallons per year of biodiesel production.

Furthermore, the report recognizes the importance of the soybean industry as being the main feedstock for biodiesel production, especially in the Midwest, and the rise of more non-traditional sources, such as algae and waste cooking greases.