Perdue Farms is deploying six Volvo trucks running on 100% biodiesel to haul fresh chicken across its supply chain, marking what the company says is the first known use of B100-fueled vehicles in the U.S. livestock sector.
The announcement, made May 29 in partnership with the Maryland Soybean Board and Optimus Technologies, is notable less for its scale and more for what it proves: that B100 can hold up in a transportation context where uptime is non-negotiable. Fresh poultry doesn't wait for mechanical issues.
The fuel is made from American-grown soybeans, including soybeans sourced directly from within Perdue's own farmer network. That supply chain loop- farmers growing the crop that feeds the chickens that fill the trucks that run on fuel made from those same farms- is central to how Perdue is positioning the project.
Running a diesel engine on pure biodiesel year-round is not straightforward. B100 gels in cold temperatures, which has historically limited its use to warmer climates or blended applications. Optimus Technologies' Vector fuel system solves for this with a split-tank setup: the truck starts on conventional diesel, the system warms the biodiesel, and then switches over automatically. At shutdown, diesel flushes the lines. The result is full-time B100 operation without cold-weather risk.
"These trucks directly connect the work of our independent family farmers to lower-emission transportation," said Ben Hildebrand, Perdue's director of environmental sustainability.
Perdue says it will evaluate performance and emissions data from this initial deployment before deciding whether to expand to additional routes and vehicles.
For the industry, the significance is in the sector. Livestock and food transport is one of the harder use cases for alternative fuels: high mileage, time-sensitive loads, no margin for downtime. If B100 works here, the argument for broader fleet adoption gets stronger across the board.
The renewable fuel industry, including UCO-based biodiesel producers and blenders, should watch how Perdue reports back on this deployment. A successful expansion would represent a meaningful new demand channel for FAME-grade feedstocks.
