SOMERSET, KENTUCKY, US — Continental Refining Co. (CRC), a fuels refiner and distributor in Somerset, Kentucky, US, is expanding its product line to include soybean meal and hulls to meet regional demand for feed and pet food ingredients. 

CRC’s fully operational soybean facility can process 330 tonnes of soybeans into 250 tons of high-protein soybean meal daily with the potential to expand production to over 500 tons per day for use in feed and pet food. CRC’s soybean crushing process also yields soybean hulls as a feed ingredient for livestock and poultry. Extracted from the outer layer of soybeans during the crushing process, these products also will enhance the efficiency and sustainability of CRC’s production methods.

The market size for soybean meal and hulls in the central Kentucky region is estimated to be approximately 250,000 tons per year, with demand from livestock producers, poultry producers, pet food manufacturers and feed mills throughout the states of Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana.

“We are steadfast in our pursuit to expand our product line with these superior soybean byproducts,” said Demetrios Haseotes, chief executive officer of CRC. “We have no doubt that our customers in the central Kentucky region will appreciate the accessibility of locally produced, premium feed ingredients.”

CRC operates a 77-acre agriculture and petroleum industrial complex that processes raw soybeans and other feedstocks to create a range of feed products, such as the mechanically extruded soybean meal and crude degummed soybean oil used at its biodiesel plant.