American Contractors, Farmers Could Benefit From Soybean-Based Road Asphalt

Mon October 27, 2025
CEG

Researchers at Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames think they may have found a solution to help soybean farmers desperate to find buyers for their crop.

American farmers are continuing to struggle as the U.S.-China trade war wages on, which led to China not purchasing any United States-grown soybeans in September, NewsNation reported Oct. 24.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, imports from the United States fell to zero, while their buying power in Brazil and Argentina increased.

It marks the first time since 2018 that this has occurred and represents a massive drop from the 1.7 million metric tons the Chinese bought in 2024. As a result, American farmers are left with unsold product.

However, ISU scientists have an innovative solution in mind. For several years, researchers at ISU have been working to turn soybeans into asphalt with tremendous success.

The discovery happened accidentally, the school said, when a first-year student added too much oxygen to a soybean oil mixture. He then noticed the chemicals begin to thicken and create a sticky substance similar to the composition used in traditional asphalt.

Eventually, the student, along with ISU professors and advisors, patented bioasphalt and began thinking of ways to use the innovative product to strengthen American roads.

Bioasphalt can be combined with other recycled gravel to create an asphalt substitute or used to add 20 to 30 more years to the life of a repaved road.

University scientists and partner companies are rigorously testing different blends to determine the durability and longevity of the bioasphalt under different conditions.

Already, the development and refinement of bioasphalt shows promise as a way to rejuvenate dying roads when sprayed on existing pavement. NewsNation noted that the mixture not only gives streets and highways a facelift and adds additional service life but saves on construction costs as well.

But with the United States crisscrossed by approximately 2.6 million mi. of streets and roadways, approximately 94 percent of which are paved with asphalt, the composite material also packs a climate punch, releasing carbon dioxide emissions throughout its production and installation process.

"We have 80,000 miles of unpaved roads in Iowa alone. It's pretty crazy," noted ISU Professor Eric Cochran. "So, you see pavement everywhere, but the need for new pavement is just extreme and ongoing. And keeping existing pavement in good shape is also an ongoing headache for departments of transportation."

After Years of Testing, Bioasphalt Shows Great Promise

Verde Resources Inc., a St. Louis-based construction and building materials company that focuses on net-zero products, tapped into the underused biochar industry, which produces a charcoal-like material made from organic matter such as soybeans.

Unlike traditional hot-mix asphalt, bioasphalt is a cold mix that can also be installed in cold temperatures, according to Civil Engineering Source, the news arm of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Using aggregate mixed with a proprietary chemical in Verde's binder, the company created a cold-mix, odorless, reduced-emission asphalt that can be driven on immediately after installation. The asphalt incorporates biochar into the aggregate, which also sequesters carbon within the mix.

The bioasphalt was installed late last year at Auburn University's National Center for Asphalt Technology Test Track (NCAT) in Alabama and is in the midst of a three-year testing period, which has so far shown promising results.

Verde hopes its bioasphalt product will prove to be a cost-effective, carbon-credit road material that can be installed during all seasons.

The happy accident at Iowa State that led to the discovery of bioasphalt occurred years ago and is now being brought to scale at manufacturing facilities all across the country. In fact, NCAT is currently in the process of getting the product greenlit by more than a dozen state transportation agencies.