Chemical Engineering May 2021 - 14

RENEWABLE DIESEL PRODUCTION ON THE RISE: ONGOING PROJECTS
Currently, production of renewable diesel fuel
is relatively small compared to petroleumbased
diesel, but there are a number of projects
in the U.S. and abroad - some under
construction and others proposed - that will
dramatically increase the volume of renewable
diesel available. According to forecasts
from the International Energy Agency (Paris,
France; www.iea.org), production of renewable
diesel in the U.S. will increase from 9
billion L in 2020 to an average of 17 billion L
annually from 2023-2025.
Renewable diesel differs from biodiesel in
that renewable diesel consists of hydrocarbons
produced by hydrotreating non-petroleum
vegetable oils, such as refined soybean
oil, distiller's corn oil or waste animal fats from
poultry and beef production, while biodiesel
is a mono-alkyl ester (fatty acid methyl ester)
formed by transesterification of bio-derived
oils. Biodiesel is typically used to blend with
conventional petroleum-derived diesel, while
renewable diesel is a drop-in replacement for
petroleum-derived diesel. Typical vegetable
oils and animal fats used in renewable diesel
production are triglycerides with C16 and C18
chains that undergo a hydrotreating process.
The following is a selection of ongoing projects
in the area of renewable diesel:
*Honeywell recently announced that Brazilbased
ECB Group (Sao Paulo; www.ecbgroup.com.br)
will use the UOP Ecofining
process to convert vegetable oils and inedible
animal fats into renewable diesel and jet
fuel at the Omega Green production facility in
Villeta, near Asuncion, Paraguay. Honeywell
UOP has designed the Omega Green project
to minimize fossil CO2 emissions at the site
by using the renewable LPG and naphtha
produced in the UOP Ecofining unit to selfsustain
the process in energy and hydrogen.
In partnership with the engineering firm Wood
PLC (Aberdeen, U.K.; www.woodplc.com),
Honeywell UOP will integrate Wood's hydrogen
plant technology with the Ecofining unit
design to produce hydrogen from renewable
feedstocks to further reduce carbon intensity.
When it enters operation, Omega Green will
produce up to 20,000 barrels per day (bbl/d)
get the bio-feedstock to the refining
site, " Szabó says. " Also, the renewable
components have added potential
for corrosion. "
The site is now using vegetable
oils as the bio-based component,
but will expand in the future to accommodate
used
cooking
oils,
waste animal fats and other potential
waste and advanced feedstock.
Szabó says the company has also
built logistics infrastructure to allow
bio-based waste fats and oils to
arrive by rail or by truck, as well as
storage facilities.
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of renewable diesel and jet fuel
* Marathon Petroleum Corp. (Findlay, Ohio;
www.marathonpetroleum.com) is now producing
12,000 bbl/d of renewable diesel at
its plant in Dickinson, N.D. The plant began
production in the first quarter of this year
and expects to hit full rates soon. Marathon
plans to transport the renewable diesel by
rail to the California market to benefit from
that state's Low-Carbon Fuel Standard. The
company has also announced plans earlier
this year to convert its Martinez, Calif. refinery
into a renewable-fuels production facility. The
Martinez facility is expected to start producing
renewable diesel in 2022 and build to full
capacity in 2023
* Diamond Green Diesel (Norco, La.; www.
diamondgreendiesel.com), the largest renewable
diesel facility in the U.S., is the result
of a joint venture between Valero Corp.
and Darling Ingredients Inc. Diamond Green
Diesel is expanding capacity for renewable
diesel at its Norco, La. site using Honeywell
UOP's Ecofining process. Diamond Green
Diesel plans to build another renewable diesel
plant in Port Arthur, Texas
* Revamp work is underway at CVR Energy
Inc.'s (Sugar Land, Tex.; www.cvrenergy.com)
Wynnewood Refinery in Oklahoma to convert
an existing hydrocracker to produce renewable
diesel from soybean oil. The project has
selected Haldor Topsoe's (Lyngby, Denmark;
www.topsoe.com) HydroFlex technology for
the production. HydroFlex is commercially
proven technology that can be deployed in
both grassroots units and revamps for coprocessing
or stand-alone applications.
* Holly Frontier Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; www.hollyfrontier.com)
is building a renewable diesel
unit at its Artesia, New Mexico. facility that will
use Haldor Topsoe's HydroFlex technology.
The project is expected to begin producing
renewable diesel in the first quarter of 2022.
Along with its N.M. project, HollyFrontier intends
to repurpose its Cheyenne, Wyoming,
refinery to produce 90 million gal/yr of renewable
diesel. The company expects the project
to be completed in early 2022
* Last year, Global Clean Energy Holdings
The co-processing results in gasoil
that is partly renewable, without
any quality differences compared to
diesel produced entirely from crude
oil. " The main advantage of this innovative
method is that the resultant
diesel with bio-content can still be
blended further with a maximum 7%
biofuel, in line with diesel standards,
allowing the bio-share of the gasoil
to be higher, " MOL Group says.
The share of transportation fuels
that must be renewable is increasing
in the European Union, and it has
been met so far by blending gasoline
Inc. (Long Beach, Calif.; www.gceholdings.
com) acquired the Alon Bakersfield Refinery
and is now retrofitting the facility to produce
renewable diesel, liquid propane from a variety
of feedstocks including waste fats, used
cooking oil, soybean oil and distillers corn
oil-as well as GCEH's proprietary camelina
oil. The project will use HydroFlex technology.
* In 2020, Ryze Renewables LLC (Sparks,
Nev.; www.ryzerenewables.com) developed,
then sold its interest in, a 3,500-bbl/d
renewable diesel facility near Reno, Nev.
The company is now working on building a
larger-scale renewable diesel facility near Las
Vegas, Nevada.
* World Energy LLC (Boston, Mass.; www.
worldenergy.net) is expanding its Paramount,
Calif. refinery to produce renewable diesel, as
well as sustainable aviation fuel and propane
from inedible agricultural waste. The project
is reported to be completed in 2023
* Renewable Energy Group Inc. (Ames,
Iowa; www.regi.com) is currently expanding
capacity to produce lower-carbon renewable
diesel at its Geismar, La. refinery from 90 million
gal/yr to 340 million gal/yr. Construction
is expected to be completed in 2023.
* Last year, Phillips 66 (Houston; www.phillips66.com)
announced plans to convert its
San Francisco Refinery in Rodeo, Calif., from
a crude-oil-processing facility to one that
produces renewable fuels. The plant would
convert used cooking oil, fats, greases and
soybean oils into 680 million gal/yr of renewable
diesel, renewable gasoline and sustainable
jet fuel. Production of renewable fuels is
expected to begin in 2024
* Next Renewable Fuels Inc. (Houston;
www.nextrenewables.com) is building a renewable
diesel production facility in Port
Westward, Oregon. The site will eventually
produce 50,000 bbl/d and is expected to
open in 2024
* Grön Fuels, LLC (www.fidelisinfra.com) has
proposed building a 60,000 bbl/d renewable
diesel production facility in Baton, Rouge, La.
The project is expected to break ground in
2021 and will use Haldor Topsoe's Hydroflex
technology 
with bio-based ethanol and blending
diesel with biodiesel. The coprocessing
arrangement allows for
a higher share of bio-based content
because the co-processed diesel
already has bio content, but since
it is identical to petroleum-derived
diesel, it can still be blended further
with biodiesel.
MOL plans to invest $1 billion on
new projects focused on sustainability
and decarbonization over the next
five years.
Another example where co-processing
renewable feedstock
is
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MAY 2021
http://www.gceholdings http://www.marathonpetroleum.com http://www.iea.org http://www.ryzerenewables.com http://www.worldenergy.net http://www.diamondgreendiesel.com http://www.regi.com http://www.cvrenergy.com http://www.phil http://www.lips66.com http://www.ecb http://group.com.br http://www.topsoe.com http://www.hol http://www.lyfrontier.com http://www.nextrenewables.com http://www.woodplc.com http://www.fidelisinfra.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering May 2021

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