INVESTING CHECKOFF DOLLARS
Tao Fei examines a soy solution while processing an experiment at Iowa State University.
SOY SOLUTIONS Soybean wax has exponential potential BY LAUREN HOUSKA
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here there is inefficiency, there is opportunity. Three billion pounds of cardboard waste might just provide an important opportunity for U.S. soybean farmers. Iowa State University (ISU) professor and soy innovator Tong Wang has been researching ways to create smart lipid materials and sustainable lipid processes for nearly two decades. One of her most recent projects with soybean oil wax could create demand for millions more bushels of soybeans. “Finding innovative new uses for soybeans that meet a specific market need ultimately increases demand for soybeans, which is particularly important right now,” says April Hemmes, an Iowa Soybean Association district and United Soybean Board (USB) director. To expand and diversify demand for U.S. soybeans, USB invests checkoff
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dollars in research that leads to the development and commercialization of sustainable, high-performing products that use soy. The organization has been searching for ways to generate more demand for soybean oil and has supported Dr. Wang’s research. Utilizing high-oleic soybean oil, Wang and her team’s new soybean oil wax product would replace the petroleum-based paraffin wax that usually coats cardboard and other paper products to make them durable and water resistant. “This product behaves much like paraffin,” Dr. Wang says. “But it’s a greener, safer and more sustainable alternative that can be sourced right here in Iowa.” Many long-distance shipping companies use paraffin-wax coated cardboard boxes. Recently, less paraffin has
been available due to demand from other industries, which has raised the price on paraffin and created opportunities for the soybean industry to fill that need. At just 5 percent of the global market, it is estimated that replacing the paraffin wax on cardboard boxes and other paper products with soy-based wax could create annual global demand of 11.4 million bushels of soybeans.
Easier on the environment Paraffin-wax coated cardboard results in approximately 3 billion pounds of waste in landfills around the world each year. Wang says that because paraffin isn’t recyclable or biodegradable, whatever doesn’t end up in landfills is incinerated. Soybean oil wax could be the solution to that problem — Wang’s technology ensures coated cardboard is biodegradable and recyclable.
