Hydrocarbon Processing - June 2022 - 79

Biofuels,
Alternative/
Renewable Fuels
M. BERUTTI, Emerson Automated Solutions,
St. Louis, Missouri
Sophisticated analytics build sustainability
for renewable diesel projects
Anyone studying the development
of the hydrocarbon processing industry
over the last century will likely admire
how far technologies have advanced, particularly
considering the tools that were
available in the industry's early years.
Many clever people have made discoveries
and incremental advances, driving
the industry forward to where it is today.
Moreover, the larger petrochemical and
chemical industries have advanced in
parallel, benefiting each other.
While technologies developed during
the last decade represent enormous advances
from what was available throughout
much of the industry's history, one
cannot help but wonder if developments
might have progressed more quickly had
today's tools been available during those
formative years.
Spurred by sustainability initiatives
in both the public and private sectors,
producers around the world are seeking
to develop and optimize methods to
create diesel fuel without using crudeoil-derived
feedstocks. This represents,
in effect, a new hydrocarbon industry.
However, today's producers, unlike their
predecessors, have a full range of modern
resources, including digital tools and
hardware that were unimaginable just a
decade or two ago.
This article will examine what some
of these new tools are, and will show how
producers are applying them as they develop
new processes for manufacturing
renewable diesel. Naturally, the lessons
learned here can be adopted far more
universally, including in established refining
and petrochemical processes.
Taming variability. To begin, we should
define what process we are talking about
(FIG. 1), since some common terms are
not always clear and are often used interchangeably.
Biodiesel
is produced from vegetable
oils and animal fats, which are converted
to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME)
through a transesterification process regulated
by ASTM D6751-20a. This process
is suitable for large- and small-scale
installations, and vehicles can be adapted
to run on biodiesel directly. The main
drawback of this process is its tendency to
gel at low temperatures, thus limiting the
amounts that can be added to the conventional
diesel distribution chain.
Renewable, or green, diesel is the primary
area of interest. It can also be made
with oils and fats as feedstocks (and this
extends to include crop residues and other
biomass) that are treated using a process
similar to conventional oil refining. This
process produces fuel that is indistinguishable
from conventional diesel. Therefore,
it falls under the ASTM D975-21 standard
specification for diesel fuel, so producers
can blend it into the conventional diesel
distribution system without limitations.
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is like
renewable diesel, and some processes
allow operators to make the switch relatively
easily when market opportunities
become available. Byproducts from the
refining process (e.g., light hydrocarbons
and naphtha) can be used as non-fossil
fuels to meet processing needs. They can
be sold as chemical feedstocks or added
FIG. 1. Alternatives to conventional diesel use the same feedstocks, but with different
approaches and results, each with their own characteristics.
Hydrocarbon Processing | JUNE 2022 79
Hydrocarbon Processing - June 2022

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