This past year, states across the country continued to prioritize low-carbon renewable fuels like biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. Clean Fuels Alliance America worked with state soybean organizations and member organizations to enact new laws that will set a path forward for additional growth in the biodiesel industry across the country&rsquo;s Heartland. Illinois started the momentum. In April, the Illinois legislature passed comprehensive revenue legislation, which included the expansion of its biodiesel sales tax exemption. Illinois currently provides an exemption on the sale of B10 sold at in-state fuel retail locations. This new legislation, championed by the Illinois Soybean Association, would enhance the program by applying the tax incentive to higher blends of biodiesel escalating over the coming years. Starting in 2024, the incentive would apply to blends of B13 and higher, increasing to B16, B19 and higher in subsequent years. It is expected to drive another 120 million gallons in biodiesel demand in the state.&nbsp; In May, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed some of the most comprehensive state biofuels legislation in the nation. Backed by the Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa Biodiesel Board and others, the bill increased the state's biodiesel production tax credit from 2 cents to 4 cents per gallon while updating the state&rsquo;s Renewable Fuel Infrastructure Program to increase access to higher blends of biofuels. The legislation maintains a biodiesel fuel tax differential by applying it to blends of B20, rather than B11. It extends current fuel retailer tax credits for B11 and higher, while introducing new credits for higher blends like B20 (7 cents per gallon) and even B30 (10 cents per gallon)&mdash;a national first. In October, Clean Fuels joined Missouri Gov. Mike Parson as he signed legislation creating new incentives for the state&rsquo;s biodiesel industry. Among other incentives, the law provides a 2-cent-per-gallon retail incentive for B5 to B10 and a five-cent-per-gallon retail incentive for B11-plus sold at Missouri fuel retailer locations. The bill also establishes a two-cent-per-gallon incentive for biodiesel produced in the state. The success of these three states will have a huge impact on Midwest biodiesel demand. Combined, these new laws will grow biodiesel demand by 280 million gallons, and signal to other states that biodiesel is a worthwhile investment. For example, Michigan introduced legislation this past year that would incentivize biodiesel sales at in-state fuel locations. This legislation will be brought back in 2023 with hopes that it can receive strong support from lawmakers. Other states, like Nebraska and Indiana, are also deliberating what sort of biodiesel incentive package can be introduced, efforts being led by state soybean organizations with backing from Clean Fuels. In addition to the success in the Midwest, Clean Fuels has been active in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states as well. Following up on industry-supported Bioheat fuel mandates that were adopted in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island in 2021 (those states alone make up 40% of the heating oil market in the Northeast), Clean Fuels and other stakeholders have been pushing for California-like low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) for both heating and transportation fuels. Following the loss (by one vote) of a Clean Heat Standard (an LCFS-like program for heating fuels) in the Vermont legislature this year, the same bill is expected to be reintroduced early in 2023 and easily pass. In these states and others, Clean Fuels has been working closely with marketers to advocate for policies that both reduce greenhouse gases and expand market share.

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This past year, states across the country continued to prioritize low-carbon renewable fuels like biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

INSIDE CFAA: Midwest Momentum

In 2020, industry trade groups sued the U.S EPA over its final 2020 Renewable Fuel Standard. Part of the suit challenged the RFS requirements regarding separated food waste&mdash;the Clean Fuels Alliance of America alleged that new recordkeeping requirements were actively harming its member businesses. Since then, the EPA agreed to work with Clean Fuels to revise its recordkeeping requirements for biodiesel and renewable diesel producers. Recordkeeping challenges in renewable diesel aren&rsquo;t new, but the struggle to balance the desire to incentivize production of low-carbon-intensity (low CI) fuels without harming collectors or tolerating fraud has come to a head. The following is what stakeholders need to know about the regulations. The collection and sale of used cooking oil and its use in producing biodiesel are regulated at both the federal and state levels. Essentially, some U.S. state and federal governments incentivize the use of low-carbon-intensity fuels, such as sustainably grown virgin oil as well as ultra-low-CI recycled feedstocks, to help lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the country&rsquo;s reliance on foreign sources of fuel. To do this, the government has designed three programs: a federal tax policy that rewards use of low CI fuel, the federal Renewable Fuel Standard and the California Air Resources Board&rsquo;s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, the latter two of which set standards for the quantity of carbon reduction credits (RIN and LCFS credits, respectively) that an obligated party must accumulate via creation or purchase each year. &nbsp; EPA&rsquo;s RFS and California&rsquo;s LCFS The EPA manages the RFS program, which is very similar to a reverse cap and trade program in that rather than limiting the production of a pollutant, it mandates the production of a substitute. The national policy was enacted in 2005 and expanded two years later. Its purpose is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions created by the use of petroleum-based fuel by requiring that some of it be replaced by renewable fuels, including fuel made from both recycled and virgin fats and oils with approved pathways. To comply with the RFS and meet the EPA-specified RVOs, those who refine or import gasoline or diesel need to blend renewable fuels that meet certain emissions requirements into transportation fuel. The EPA allows biofuel producers to create renewable identification numbers (RINs) based on the volume and type of fuel produced (anywhere) and then sold for end use in the U.S. The RINs then migrate through the supply chain either connected to the liquid fuel, or separated and traded at market value. Fuel producers that make only renewable fuel sell all of their RINs, revenue that is critical to profitability. In essence, the value of the RIN must trade at a level that incentivizes biofuel producers to create the RINs needed by the obligated parties. &nbsp;The California Air and Resources Board enacted an additional program, similar to the RFS, called the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Since many in the industry sell oil into the state of California, it's relevant to more than just California residents. Like the RFS, CARB&rsquo;s LCFS awards companies credits based on the volume of low-carbon-intensity fuels they produce. One notable difference between the federal and California programs are that under the California LCFS program, each feedstock pathway generates a different number of credits, making feedstock tracking critical even amongst the basket of approved and sustainable feedstocks. &nbsp; Compliance and Verification The high value of oil could also inspire bad actors to steal used cooking oil (UCO) from facilities that have not agreed for them to take it&mdash;a growing problem in the industry that harms restaurants, used cooking oil collectors and even the surrounding communities. If an aggregator purchases stolen cooking oil, oil that by definition lacks a verifiable supply chain, then there&rsquo;s no way to confirm that their feedstock meets the requirements to produce renewable fuel that will reduce greenhouse gases. If unverified, stolen UCO can enter the supply chain, so what is to stop millions of gallons of unapproved palm oil from also slipping through the cracks? It also means that unscrupulous blenders, aggregators or traders could pass off noncompliant feedstocks such as virgin palm oil at a hefty profit, or perhaps, blend it with actual low CI, recycled feedstock to better cover their molecular tracks. &nbsp;Enter the recordkeeping requirements. A producer must be able to document the location of origin of all of the renewable fuel feedstock it uses, so that if one of the regulating agencies chose to conduct an audit, it could account for its renewable fuel throughout its lifecycle, proving that it really was renewable with the claimed carbon intensity. Prior to the 2020 RVO, &ldquo;From our understanding, for these record-keeping requirements, &lsquo;location&rsquo; could be broad enough to be a small area, so whether that's a county or certain zip code or a certain suburb area,&rdquo; explains Kate Shenk, regulatory director at Clean Fuels. &ldquo;That way, if you were adding new restaurants or changing up where you're getting your UCO from, you weren't updating each restaurant location each time.&rdquo; &nbsp;But that changed with the 2020 iteration of the RFS. In 2020, the EPA updated the preamble to the rule, adding, &ldquo;Since many renewable fuel producers receive wastes used as feedstocks from an aggregator, we interpret the term &lsquo;location&rsquo; to mean the physical address that the aggregator obtained the wastes used as feedstocks from, not the physical or company address of the aggregator.&rdquo; Ashley Player, a partner in Energy Compliance Services at Weaver, explains that now, &ldquo;In order to be in compliance with these regulations, renewable fuel producers that purchase UCO from aggregators must obtain documents demonstrating all of the sources of the oil collected, down to the restaurant addresses.&rdquo; The news was met with frustration and skepticism because many large biofuel producers don&rsquo;t just buy UCO, they also collect it&mdash;if those companies had access to the client lists of the collectors they&rsquo;re buying from, what&rsquo;s to stop them from targeting those restaurants and facilities themselves? &ldquo;This is considered confidential and proprietary information by collectors and aggregators, putting renewable fuel producers in a tough situation,&rdquo; Player says. &nbsp;When the EPA announced the updated RVO in 2021, smaller biofuel producers were left behind, Shenk says. These smaller producers had voluntarily enrolled in a Quality Assurance Plan for the RFS. QAP required the producers to submit the compliance data for the UCO they purchased to a third party auditor who could verify its authenticity. Having this verification protects a small producer from liability for invalidated RINs. Unfortunately, with the new interpretation of the RFS rule, producers enrolled in the program weren&rsquo;t able to buy oil from their usual collectors, because some of the collectors were unable or unwilling to hand over the addresses of the facilities from which they&rsquo;d collected the oil, which they now needed for verification. Only &ldquo;larger producers who are not under QAP could take [the oil],&rdquo; Shenk says, because they hadn&rsquo;t enrolled in the QAP. Ultimately, the Clean Fuels Alliance sued the EPA over the new regulations. Rather than animosity, the lawsuit has clarified industry needs, and the EPA seems to be listening. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a lot of really great conversations [with the EPA] since this rule came out,&rdquo; Shenk says. On Dec.&nbsp; 1, the EPA released the new RFS rule for public comment. In it, the agency outlined a system by which third parties, rather than the biofuel producers, could collect, maintain and verify records from UCO collectors, keeping the restaurant addresses confidential. "A third party having those records and being able to verify the collections if there's a need for an audit will allow our industry to keep doing what it's already doing,&rdquo; says Paul Winters, public affairs director at Clean Fuels. Reiter software can securely maintain records with GPS confirmation and volume retrieved at each location, and allow for a nearly instant third-party audit. &ldquo;Reiter software is always adapting, and as the industry evolves, our software will continue to streamline the work of UCO collectors,&rdquo; adds Kristof Reiter, CEO of Reiter Software.

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The collection and sale of used cooking oil and its use in producing biodiesel are regulated at both the federal and state levels.

SPOTLIGHT Reiter Software; Used Cooking Oil: Staying in Compliance for Incentives 

Whether the end product is biodiesel, renewable diesel (RD), or sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), feedstock pretreatment is a critical to the economic, efficient and reliable operation of a biofuel plant. As compared to traditionally used, higher-quality biodiesel feedstocks, the momentous RD and SAF markets are largely targeting waste feedstocks, the impurities in which require more complex pretreatment processes to meet quality requirements. While Austria-based BDI-BioEnergy International GmbH is well known for its Repeatable Catalyst, or RepCAT technology, the company&rsquo;s BDI Advanced PreTreatment process is another result of 25 years of experience and thorough understanding of the processing of oils and fats, allowing producers the ability to test and process a wide range of feedstocks&mdash;with support every step of the way. Feedstock Flexibility In a high-level explanation, BDI&rsquo;s flexible and modular pretreatment system utilizes a Tricanter process, followed by drying and advanced adsorption, especially designed for waste feedstock. The latter step is critical to an efficient process, says Manfred Baumgartner, BDI director of biofuels technology, and BDI will assist customers in selecting the most suitable adsorption medium, currently of which there are a range of different types on the market. As BDI&rsquo;s pretreatment system is suitable for the processing of fresh vegetable oils, waste oils and fats, it provides an advantage that will well-equip producers in the evolving and increasingly competitive feedstock landscape, according to Baumgartner. &ldquo;The biofuel industry is seeing a change in feedstock coprocessing&mdash;a trend from vegetable oil to waste oils is happening right now,&rdquo; he says. Mainly high-quality feedstocks have been used in the past, and though they are still being used for coprocessing, waste oils are becoming highly sought after. With the global market and resulting feedstock demand quickly growing, Baumgartner believes that feedstocks will become much scarcer in the future. Therefore, the ability to process a variety of waste oils and low-quality raw materials will become an even more important benefit to biofuel producers&mdash;and BDI-built plants already have the capability to do so. &ldquo;These plants are specially designed for waste oils,&rdquo; Baumgartner says. &ldquo;A flexible pretreatment process configuration is essential to address all impurities, and in particular, this applies when different types of feedstock are processed in the same production line. We build them flexibly, so that all precautions have been taken for these challenges down the road.&rdquo; One of those challenges, for example, may be processing rendered animal fats with high polyethylene (PE) particle concentrations, which cannot be removed through traditional pretreatment methods. &ldquo;This easily results in capacity problems,&rdquo; Baumgartner says. He tells Biodiesel Magazine that BDI has developed a patent-pending, smart PE removal process that is installed upstream of the prepurification unit, and operates without filtration. In cases where feedstocks without PE particles are processed, the unit can be bypassed, according to Baumgartner. If required, other units can be added downstream, for example&mdash;to reduce or convert free fatty acids. As for a recent example of a pretreatment plant BDI has delivered, repeat customer Crimson Renewable Energy L.P., in Bakersfield, California, underwent commissioning in 2020. The 40,000-ton plant pretreats waste oils and fats for processing into biodiesel. R&amp;D, Customer Support Baumgartner emphasizes BDI&rsquo;s ability to react quickly to assist customers in testing new feedstocks. The company prides itself on its customer service, providing reliable support during the lifetime of the plant, from feedstock evaluation in the lab, to startup of the plant to post-commissioning, working with them to optimize production, whether it&rsquo;s a pretreatment or biodiesel plant. And support is available 24/7 via a hotline. Research and development, a cornerstone of the company&rsquo;s business model,&nbsp; has paved the way for the technological developments BDI has achieved to date&mdash;and there is much more in store, according to Baumgartner. &ldquo;We have conducted intensive research with a special focus on further reducing phosphorous and metals in poor-quality oils and lowering residual concentrations, as well as reduction of organic chlorine compounds,&rdquo; he adds.&nbsp; &ldquo;We have achieved positive results and are at a breakthrough point. This solution will be a significant advantage for BDI customers in the near future, and it will soon be ready for the market.&rdquo;

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While BDI-BioEnergy International GmbH is well known for its RepCAT technology, the company's BDI Advanced PreTreatment process is another result of 25 years of experience and thorough understanding of the processing of oils and fats.

SPOTLIGHT BDI BioEnergy International GmbH; Ever-Advancing Pretreatment

The Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge represents a breakthrough in federal energy policy, establishing a comprehensive strategy developed by multiple agencies to scale up new technologies and rapidly commercialize SAF in order to fully supply U.S. jet fuel demand by 2050. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that it will require approximately 35 billion gallons of fuel annually to achieve this goal. The first established milestone toward this is 3 billion gallons of domestic SAF production by 2030. Given that the SAF industry must scale by orders of magnitude in seven years to hit the milestone, the crucial question emerges:&nbsp; Is there sufficient policy to drive the rapid expansion? The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides the first indication of whether there exists sufficient will and capability in the federal government to execute on the promise of the SAF Grand Challenge. Passed by a vote of 51-50 in the Senate and 220-213 in the House of Representatives, it is fair to say that the will and capability existed in the 117th Congress by only the slimmest of majorities. However, this bare majority was sufficient to clear the first federal policy milestone, and so the industry will now benefit from five years of tax incentives. While it is unlikely that these incentives will be of sufficient duration to provide an investment signal robust enough to put the industry on track to producing 3 billion gallons in 2030, they will certainly help address existing SAF production policy and structural disincentives that have, to date, driven production of renewable diesel instead. As a result, the incentives will accelerate industry expansion and provide an essential policy building block on which the complementary initiatives from the administration&rsquo;s SAF Grand Challenge, including grant funding and loan guarantees, can build. Congress included several SAF tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. The SAF Blender&rsquo;s Tax Credit will be effective from 2023-&rsquo;24, and is generally consistent with the existing $1 per gallon biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credits, but differs in several key respects. First, qualifying SAF need not be from biomass alone, but can be produced from nonbiogenic feedstocks like captured carbon and other waste streams, so long as SAF is not derived from petroleum or palm fatty acid distillates. In a first from Congress for fuels tax credits, the SAF BTC further adds an additional performance-based requirement that eligible SAF achieves a carbon intensity (CI) reduction of at least 50% relative to petroleum jet fuel to be eligible to receive an enhanced $1.25 per gallon credit. Notably, Congress incentivized further reductions beyond the 50% minimum threshold by providing an additional one cent per percentage improvement beyond 50%, with SAF demonstrating a 100% reduction eligible for the maximum incentive of $1.75 per gallon. To be eligible, the SAF must also meet ASTM D7566 or the Fischer-Tropsch coprocessing provisions of ASTM D1655, Annex A, and be blended and sold in the U.S.&mdash;along with other statutory requirements. The 50% CI reduction requirement is novel in terms of its designation of the appropriate lifecycle analysis (LCA) to apply.&nbsp; As industry participants are aware, there are significant and impactful variations between the LCA methodologies utilized by the U.S. EPA, the National Laboratory at Argonne, and the California Air Resources Board, to name a few.&nbsp; The IRA provides the following LCA criteria as the basis for meeting the 50% CI reduction requirement: &lsquo;&lsquo;(1) the most recent Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation which has been adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization with the agreement of the United States, or (2) any similar methodology which satisfies the criteria under section 211(o)(1)(H) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(1)(H)), as in effect on the date of enactment of this section.&rdquo; While it is noteworthy that the U.S. has now adopted the lifecycle methodology developed for the International Civil Aviation Organization&rsquo;s Carbon Offsetting Reduction Scheme for International Aviation as a methodology that can be used to qualify for a U.S. tax credit, the IRA also allows other methodologies meeting the criteria outlined in the Clean Air Act to qualify. The Argonne National Laboratory&rsquo;s GREET model, EPA&rsquo;s own methodology under the Renewable Fuel Standard, and potentially other methodologies should qualify based on these criteria, and the IRS recently sought comment on what methodologies beyond CORSIA should be eligible.&nbsp; From 2025 to 2027, the SAF BTC transitions to the Clean Fuel Production Credit, which is also applicable to other transportation fuels, but like the SAF BTC, it provides an enhanced value for SAF. The applicable definition for SAF within the CFPC precisely tracks the prior SAF BTC definition, as do the provisions on acceptable lifecycle methodologies for SAF.&nbsp; The CFPC structure is somewhat of a hybrid policy with a clean fuel standard component that may be a harbinger of future federal policies. Under a statutory formula that rewards fuels with lifecycle emissions below 50 kg CO2e/MMBtu (which also represents a roughly 50% reduction from petroleum fuels), for SAF with a 100% reduction, the CFPC would provide a credit of $1.75 per gallon versus $1 per gallon for other transportation fuels, though the incentive is considerably less generous than the SAF BTC for a reduction below 100%.&nbsp; For example, SAF with an 80% reduction would receive $1.09 under the CFPC, versus $1.55 under the SAF BTC. However, the CFPC contemplates crediting carbon-negative SAF beyond $1.75 a gallon, creating an important market signal for deeply carbon-negative fuels.&nbsp; As noted at the outset, while these federal programs are extremely valuable to the industry and represent a policy breakthrough, standing alone, they are unlikely to be sufficient to achieve the rapid pace of the expansion set by the SAF Grand Challenge. Other elements of the IRA, including $244 million in dedicated SAF grant funding through a new U.S. Department of Transportation program and complementary clean energy tax credits, will help scale SAF, but effective policy will require long-term extensions of tax credits that are robust enough to support the vision of the SAF Grand Challenge and synergistic state policies.&nbsp; The SAF producer group represented by this article&rsquo;s author, attorney Graham Noyes, and that coauthor Alex Menotti, LanzaJet, actively participates in, is composed of Alder Fuels, Fulcrum BioEnergy, Gevo, LanzaJet, Red Rock Biofuels, Velocys and World Energy. This group is focused on the expansion of state SAF policies that complement federal policies. As of January 1, California, Oregon and Washington will have in place clean fuel standard policies for which alternative jet fuel is eligible to credit generation on an opt-in basis, but these policies alone do not provide sufficient incentives for SAF relative to ground transportation fuels&mdash;additional state policy support is required.&nbsp; The rapid evolution of SAF policy is exemplified by an important distinction between the definition of SAF in the IRA versus the operative alternative jet fuel state definitions that are all comparable to the following California definition:&nbsp; &ldquo;&lsquo;Alternative Jet Fuel&rsquo; means a drop-in fuel, made from petroleum or nonpetroleum sources, that can be blended and used with conventional petroleum jet fuels without the need to modify aircraft engines and existing fuel distribution infrastructure.&rdquo;&nbsp; When the SAF producers, airlines and airports worked with CARB five years ago to develop the applicable definition, we were at a very early stage in the SAF policy conversation. As a result, the definition did not have a minimum threshold beyond being less than the applicable CI standard, and there was no reference to CORSIA as an eligible LCA methodology.&nbsp; As the SAF industry surges forward in pursuit of its 2030 and 2050 market goals, the continued expansion and evolution of state and federal SAF policy will be essential for success. Given the industry&rsquo;s international nature and the lack of viable technology alternatives, the development of SAF policy and the full-scale commercialization of SAF provide substantial and unique opportunities for low-carbon liquid fuels for the foreseeable future. Contact: Graham Noyes Noyes Law Corp. Fuelandcarbonlaw.com graham@noyeslawcorp.com

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To reach U.S. sustainable aviation fuel goals, adequate policy will be crucial. 

SAF: Policy to Pave the Way

When fats, oils and grease (FOG) separation technology Greasezilla was developed by Downey Ridge Environmental Co. nearly 20 years ago, the system was never expected to become the impressive solution it has for wastewater treatment sites needing to manage the overabundance of FOG created by food establishments and industrial food production facilities worldwide. Ron Crosier, president of the Lansing, West Virginia-based company, has been in the liquid waste business&mdash;particularly with grease trap service&mdash;since 1995, and has witnessed the evolution of FOG treatment solutions. &ldquo;Early on, we used existing technologies to deal with and dispose of grease trap waste&mdash;dewatering and landfilling&mdash;which were labor intensive and expensive with regard to polymers and landfill tipping fees,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Another method we used was composting, which wasn&rsquo;t the worst, but it was also very labor intensive.&rdquo; Eventually, the company started to use sawdust as a bulking agent. However, the advent of wood pellets brought sawdust prices from little-to-nothing, to too expensive to make sense for the job. &ldquo;Rather than reverting back to drying boxes or any other dewatering technologies, we realized that if we could remove the brown grease component from grease trap waste, then the rest of the product was easy to dispose of,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;We knew there was some value in the brown grease, if for no other reason than the Btus that were in it.&rdquo; That led to the development of Greasezilla in 2008, though the company had no intention of marketing it at first; it simply looked to solve its own grease problem. Through contacts Crosier had in the sanitation industry, he realized that there was more value to the Greasezilla technology than just helping the company&rsquo;s own interests. &ldquo;We invested a significant amount of money and research and development to get to the place we had gotten to,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;We successfully applied for a patent and began marketing the technology to haulers. We sold a few units between 2010 and 2015, but quickly learned haulers just wanted to haul.&rdquo; The lightbulb went off that the real market for Greasezilla was most likely in the wastewater treatment industry, though the company knew it would need to make some changes to the system.&ldquo;We did some engineering, especially in regards to automation, and sought out some investment capital, and relaunched a few years later,&rdquo; Crosier says. Understanding the Technology Greasezilla&rsquo;s ability to turn the problem of FOG waste into a sustainable energy source addresses larger infrastructure, environmental and energy issues. &ldquo;We take grease trap waste, which is generally difficult to dispose of because of the brown grease, which is very detrimental to the ecology of anaerobic digesters. It doesn&rsquo;t break down in wastewater plants and typically will pass through, with the only change being it&rsquo;s been somewhat diluted,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;Some wastewater treatment plants are able to decant grease trap waste somewhat and then incinerate the grease, but that causes a lot of damage to the incinerators.&rdquo; &nbsp;Greasezilla&rsquo;s hydronic thermal system takes grease trap waste in its trucked-in form and separates it without any polymers, flocculants or chemical treatment. The brown grease layer is automatically pumped off, measured and stored, with the remaining products sent to the headworks or anaerobic digesters. &ldquo;There will be three layers of product in the Greasezilla reactors&mdash;the brown grease, the batter later&mdash;all other food particles&mdash;and water,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;The brown grease that our system produces will have a moisture content of under 1 percent, generally closer to half percent, so it is ready as a feedstock for biodiesel the moment it comes off the system.&rdquo; The heat for refining is generated by burning a small portion of the brown grease that is captured. &ldquo;Our system uses less than 5 percent of the fuel it creates to generate heat, and therefore is very efficient,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;The brown grease you do burn to generate the heat burns very cleanly, much cleaner than petroleum fuel.&rdquo; Greasezilla&rsquo;s standard two-tank reactor system requires a footprint of only 1,000 square feet and is easily scalable by adding additional reactor tanks and boilers. There are usually no permitting issues because of the manageably sized boilers. While there are certainly lots of companies in the grease trap waste processing space today, nearly all of them are trying to simply separate grease and solids from water, Crosier says, typically creating two waste streams from one. Downey Ridge Environmental knows of no other technology that does what Greasezilla accomplishes with anywhere close to the quality and cost, a pledge that Jacobs Engineering confirmed. Expansion Plans Downey Ridge Environmental is so confident in Greasezilla&rsquo;s return on investment, the company offer systems at no cost and revenue share with wastewater treatment plants to recoup cost. These private-public ventures are of great interest to many waste management plants. &ldquo;We were set back a little because of COVID-19, but we will have close to 20 units in place by the end of 2022 and will double that by the end of next year,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;Expanding across several verticals&mdash;from wastewater treatment facilities to haulers, biodiesel refineries and even directly with food processors&mdash;is something we have had an eye on since the beginning.&rdquo; And rather than selling equity in the company, Downy Ridge decided that a few years of selling systems for proof of concept to demonstrate would make it much easier to raise capital. &ldquo;We now have a number of capital groups wanting to invest in our growth plans, and we feel the time is right to bring in institutional and private equity to build out our footprint, which is well underway,&rdquo; Crosier says. Hampton Roads Sanitation District, which provides regional wastewater treatment to 20 cities and counties in southeast Virginia, is nearing completion of its state-of-the-art FOG receiving facility at its Nansemond Treatment Plant in Suffolk, Virginia, with operation expected in the spring of 2023. HRSD will utilize Greasezilla to separate and process FOG into advanced biofuel. &ldquo;They have built everything from the ground up to support this process,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;Most of our customers incorporate our technology into their existing infrastructure; HRSD has built everything&mdash;a receiving station, a decanting operation with brand new tanks&mdash;it&rsquo;s a very elaborate facility.&rdquo; Chris Wilson, HRSD&rsquo;s chief of process engineering and research, notes an assured outlet for HRSD&rsquo;s brown grease derived biofuel was a primary driver of its selection of Downey Ridge and Greasezilla, as the company differentiated itself with its demonstrated knowledge of the commodity markets for biofuels. &ldquo;The Greasezilla equipment will allow HRSD to better allocate our existing personnel and treatment facilities by diverting hard-to-manage grease waste from the influent of the highly advanced Nansemond Treatment Plant,&rdquo; Wilson says. &ldquo;Greasezilla will be part of a dedicated facility within the Nansemond Treatment Plant purposefully designed to manage this challenging waste source and to produce a valuable biofuel product.&rdquo; Looking Ahead As 2022 winds down, Downey Ridge Environmental sees a continuous increase in demand for the ecological system and the brown grease it produces. Currently, the company is working closely with wastewater treatment sites in New England, New York, New Jersey, the mid-Atlantic, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Texas, and expects to install a minimum of 10 new systems at wastewater plants by the end of 2023. &ldquo;The production of the brown grease is just a wonderful side benefit to our technology,&rdquo; Crosier says. &ldquo;The primary purpose is to provide an efficient way of processing grease trap waste.&rdquo; Looking ahead further, Crosier would like to have a network of grease trap waste receiving stations all around the country, particularly around the coastal regions. &ldquo;I would also like to see us be more involved in exporting our technology,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been working heavily on exporting this technology to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean, and hopefully Asia and Australia as well.&rdquo; Contact: Anna Simet asimet@bbiinternational.com

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Greasezilla is a turnkey standalone system that optimizes FOG separation while producing a high-quality brown grease advanced biofuel offtake. The system consists of two 10,000-gallon hydronic thermal processing reactors for FOG separation, for up to

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City by city, Greasezilla  is conquering problems derived from excessive fats, oils and grease waste.

Something Big is Coming

This fall, Biodiesel Magazine chatted with Mindi Farber-DeAnda, team lead of the U.S. EIA&rsquo;s Petroleum &amp; Natural Gas Modeling regarding biodiesel, renewable diesel and SAF capacity growth. At the time, she said EIA forecast that U.S. renewable diesel capacity would outpace biodiesel capacity in October&mdash;and that proved to be true. &ldquo;Our annual production capacity numbers for biodiesel and renewable diesel facilities are as of the beginning of the year, containing data for 2021, and for biodiesel we reported 72 facilities with about 2.2 billion gallons per year (BGY) of capacity,&rdquo; Farber-DeAnda said. As for renewable diesel, there were 11 operating plants&mdash;a number that has been on a steady uptick since Jan. 1&mdash;with an annual capacity of 1.75 BGY, according to Farber-DeAnda. While that data was in the EIA&rsquo;s 2021 annual report not released until August of this year&mdash;its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook contains more current data, with information for August showing capacity for renewable diesel (and associated fuels including renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, renewable naphtha, renewable gasoline and other biofuels) having reached 2.134 billion gallons&mdash;an increase of over 50% in just one year. Biodiesel capacity was down slightly, by 347 MMgy, when compared to the 2.431 billion gallons of capacity in place as of August 2021. So, what&rsquo;s attributing to a slight dip in biodiesel capacity? Farber-DeAnda shared what hasn&rsquo;t a major factor, and that&rsquo;s conversions from biodiesel to renewable diesel. &ldquo;These are very different facilities &hellip; renewable diesel is much more complex &hellip; we are seeing [conversions] happen more at refineries. Some biodiesel facilities are just closing over time. We are seeing greater biodiesel exports, but just not enough to warrant more production.&rdquo; The EIA&rsquo;s 2021 annual report saw a substantial drop in petroleum refining capacity. &ldquo;We also saw 440,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity converted to renewable diesel, but that actually happened in 2020&mdash;it just showed up in our records on Jan. 1, 2021,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;In 2021, we were expecting to see a greater number of conversions, but there seems to have been some delays from COVID-19&rsquo;s expanded economic impacts.&rdquo; In the next report, which will contain data from 2022, Farber-DeAnda said EIA expects up to 660,000 bpd additional conversions to renewable diesel. Biodiesel Magazine&rsquo;s annual production map showed 34 renewable diesel/SAF plants under development, construction or operating in the U.S., as of September. The following includes updates regarding some of these projects, in various stages of development. Project name: Next Renewable Fuels Location: Port Westward, Oregon Project type: Greenfield Fuel/s: SAF, renewable diesel, renewable propane &nbsp; Capacity: 750 MMgy Status: Under Development Summary: Next Renewable Fuels received air permit approval from the Oregon&nbsp; Department of Environmental Quality in late August. The $1.5 billion facility will use feedstocks including animal tallow, seed oil and waste grease. In the most recent project news, in mid-November, United Airlines announced an investment of up to $37.5 million in the company, so long as certain milestone targets are met. Shortly thereafter, Next announced it would become publicly traded via a special purpose acquisition by Industrial Tech Acquisitions II Inc., a transaction expected to close next year, and would be named NXTCLEAN Fuels Inc. Biodiesel Magazine confirmed with a company spokesman that it is currently targeting 2026 for fuel production. Project name: Heartwell Renewables Location: Hastings, Nebraska Project type: Greenfield Fuel/s: Renewable diesel Capacity: 80 MMgy Status: Under Construction Summary: Cargill and The Loves Family of Companies announced their partnership in April 2020. The joint venture broke ground on its renewable diesel refinery in early November, which will use vegetable oils and Cargill-suppled beef tallow as feedstocks. Musket, the commodity trading and logistics arm of Love&rsquo;s, will transport and market the produced fuel. Worley was awarded a contract to provide detailed and field engineering services for the facility. Fuel production is slated for 2024. Project name: Montana Renewables Project type: Refinery conversion Location: Great Falls, Montana Fuel/s: Renewable diesel, SAF, naphtha Capacity: 230 MMgy Status: Operational [Planned expansion] Summary: Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. is considering plans to ramp up SAF production at its Montana Renewables biorefinery, which began commissioning this fall and is currently focused on renewable diesel production. A renewable hydrogen plant and feedstock pretreatment facility are under development and scheduled to begin commissioning this winter. According to CEO Todd Borgmann during a Nov. 14 earnings call, the company is currently focused on taking time to understand the nuances of operating the renewable diesel unit at the Great Falls facility, particularly in the colder-than-normal temperatures the region had been experiencing. A planned expansion in 2024 would boost nameplate capacity to 20,000 bpd, with production estimated at 12,000 bpd of renewable diesel, 4 million bpd of SAF, and 1,500 bpd of renewable naphtha. Borgmann said the planned expansion will make the company the largest SAF producer in North America. Engineering is also underway to support a project that could optimize the facility for SAF production, boosting SAF capacity to as high as 15,000 bpd, or 230 MMgy. Borgmann also discussed feedstock procurement for the plant&mdash;the facility is initially expected to take in soybean oil, animal fats and corn oil as feedstocks, but is also likely to process other feedstocks in the future, including canola oil and camelina. Borgmann indicated the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s approval of canola oil fuel pathways for renewable diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and other associated fuels will benefit Montana Renewables, as canola is already widely cultivated in Montana. Project name: CastleRock Green Energy Location: Shelton, Washington Project type: Greenfield Fuel/s: Unspecified/low-carbon &nbsp; Capacity: Unspecified Status: Under Development Summary: CastleRock Green Energy is a renewable energy and infrastructure fund based in New York, and recently announced development of &ldquo;a pair of biofuel production facilities&rdquo; in the Shelton, Washington, area. The company does not appear to have a project website, but a Nov. 7 press release credited the Inflation Reduction Act as making the projects possible. The facility will require a $400 million investment, according to CastleRock, and the company indicated that it plans to deploy Ensyn Corp.&rsquo;s RTP technology, which has been installed at eight production facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Project name: CVR Energy Location: Wynnewood, Oklahoma Project type: Refinery conversion Fuel/s: Renewable diesel Capacity: 100 MMgy Status: Operational Summary: CVR Energy&rsquo;s Wynnewood refinery&mdash;converted from a hydrocracking unit&mdash;began commissioning and startup in early May, after an initial project delay due to spiking feedstock prices (soybean oil in particular). The plant reached capacity at the beginning of October, according to CVR Energy David Lamp. During an early Nov. earnings call, Lamp said construction of a feedstock pretreatment unit is progressing, and is expected to be placed in service during the third quarter of next year, allowing the facility to take in a wider variety of feedstocks. Lamp said the renewable diesel conversion has been relatively straightforward and easy from an operating standpoint, though logistics have been more challenging. He said one of the company&rsquo;s bigger challenges has been getting the railroad in tune with its needs to deliver soybean oil and corn oil on a timely basis, as well as remove product on a timely basis. The company is continuing to work through those challenges, he indicated. CVR Energy is in the process of studying the feasibility of the conversion of its Coffeyville, Kansas, refinery to renewable diesel, and SAF and has selected Honeywell to conduct a feasibility study. Project name: Martinez Renewables Location: Martinez, California Project type: Refinery conversion Fuel/s: Renewable diesel, naphtha, propane Capacity: 730 MMgy Status: Under Construction Summary: Marathon Petroleum Corp. on Nov. 1 confirmed that phase 1 of the renewable diesel conversion project at the company&rsquo;s Martinez, California, refinery is expected to be mechanically complete by the end of 2022. The Martinez project is being developed under a 50/50 joint venture with Neste, which was finalized in September. Each Neste and Marathon will invest $1 billion in the project. Renewable diesel production at the facility is expected to begin in early 2023, with feedstock pretreatment capabilities expected to come online during the second half of the year. By the end of 2023, the project is expected to have the capacity to produce 730 MMgy. Marathon completed the conversion of its Dickinson, North Dakota, refinery to a 184 MMgy renewable diesel and naphtha plant that became operational in 2021. Project name: Alder Green Crude Location: U.S. Southeast, undisclosed Project type: Greenfield Fuel/s: Greencrude (for conversion into SAF/biochemicals) Capacity: Undisclosed Status: Under Development Summary: Backed by and partnered with companies including United Airlines, Honeywell, Avfuel Corp., Enviva, Boeing and the U.S. DOE, Alder Fuels&rsquo; first site, in an unspecified Southeast U.S. location, is slated to start full-scale commercial production in 2024.&nbsp; Technology and feedstock testing at pilot- and demonstration-scale plants was completed in the Netherlands. Darren Fuller, senior vice president of sales and business development, recently told Biodiesel Magazine that the company is finalizing the facility&rsquo;s location. &ldquo;It will be a greenfield facility, so there are no existing technology or utilities that we&rsquo;re leveraging there &hellip; we&rsquo;re hoping to make an announcement in this quarter, and that still may happen. It&rsquo;s a big deal for us. We&rsquo;re partnering with Enviva and BTW Bioliquids, our fast pyrolysis technology provider &hellip; We&rsquo;re really excited about it and moving very quickly to making it a reality.&rdquo; United Airlines has committed to purchase 1.5 billion gallons of SAF from the company. &nbsp; &nbsp; Project name: Vertex Energy Location: Mobile, Alabama Project type: Refinery conversion Fuel/s: Renewable diesel Capacity: 150 MMgy Status: Under Construction Summary: Vertex Energy is nearing completion of a $90 million-plus capital project to modify the Mobile refinery's existing hydrocracking unit to produce renewable diesel fuel on a standalone basis. Upon completion, the refinery is expected to commence production of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 bpd of renewable diesel, with production volumes anticipated to subsequently ramp up to approximately 14,000 bpd. In statements released this fall, the company said that mechanical completion of the project has been proactively extended from its initial target of year-end 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, risk considerations due to COVID-19-induced product delays and global supply chain shortages in several previously unimpacted markets, including common pipes, valves and fittings. &ldquo;Limited visibility into a solution for these challenges, combined with the notable financial benefits associated with reduced downtime and extending current operations, have allowed the company to respond by extending the project timeline to ensure all necessary parts and materials are ready and on-site prior to shutting the hydrocracker unit down,&rdquo; Vertex stated. Project name: DG Fuels-Louisiana Location: Undisclosed, Louisiana Project type: Greenfield Fuel/s: SAF Capacity: 120 MMgy Status: Proposed Summary: Slated for production in 2026, DG Fuels announced in mid-November that this plant has sold all of its initial production capacity after inking a final offtake agreement with an undisclosed buyer. According to the company, The $2.5 billion SAF plant has already secured offtake agreements with four other buyers, including Delta Airlines, which has agreed to buy 55 million gallons per year for a seven-year period beginning in 2027, and Air France-KLM, which agreed to buy 21 million gallons per year for a 10-year period beginning in 2026. DG Fuels' SAF production process uses cellulosic waste products as feedstocks. HydrogenPro will supply its green hydrogen technology with a capacity of at least 839 MW for DG Fuels' initial production plan. On Nov. 14, DG Fuels announced it has signed key land agreement for the development of its second proposed SAF facility, a 175 MMgy plant&nbsp; planned for development in Maine. Project name: World Energy-Galena Park Location: Galena Park, Texas Project type: Refinery conversion Fuel/s: SAF Capacity: 250 MMgy Status: Under Construction Summary: In mid-August, World Energy announced the launch of advanced engineering plans to convert its existing assets in Houston to an SAF hub that will enable the company to produce another 250 MMgy of SAF by 2025. World Energy operates the world's first SAF plant in Los Angeles, where it is in the midst of a $2 billion expansion project to boost capacity to 375 MMgy. The company owns four operating biodiesel plants in Ontario, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Georgia. Project name: REG Geismar LLC Location: Geismar, Louisiana Project type: Expansion Fuel/s: Renewable diesel, propane, naphtha Capacity: 90/250 MMgy Status: Under Construction Summary: REG&rsquo;s Geismar plant is undergoing a $950 million expansion from 90 MMgy to approximately 250 MMgy. The project broke ground in October 2021 and is expected to be completed in 2024. This summer, the U.S. EPA approved a Renewable Fuel Standard fuel pathway filed by REG that will allow the facility to generate D4 biomass-based diesel renewable identification numbers (RINs) and D5 RINs for certain biofuels produced using carinata oil feedstock. REG was officially acquired by Chevron in June. Project name: Gevo NZ1 Location: Lake Preston, South Dakota Project type: Greenfield Fuel/s: SAF Capacity: 55 MMgy Status: Under Construction Summary: Following a recent groundbreaking ceremony in Lake Preston, South Dakota, Gevo reported that its Net-Zero 1, or NZ1, project is on schedule. Initial volumes of SAF are expected to be delivered in 2025. NZ1 will produce approximately 55 MMgy of SAF, or 62 MMgy of total hydrocarbon volumes, which would satisfy part of the approximate 375 MMgy of financeable SAF and hydrocarbon supply agreements that are currently in place, according to Gevo. &ldquo;The transition to an ethanol-to-SAF design from Gevo&rsquo;s original isobutanol-to-SAF and isooctane design continues to yield improved output expectations as pre-project planning has been completed through phase 2 of front-end loading work,&rdquo; the company said. Gevo indicated it is making progress on securing future SAF production locations beyond NZ1. Author: Anna Simet Contact: asimet@bbiinternational.com

Former oil refinery Montana Renewables is operating and producing renewable diesel in Great Falls, Montana. 

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Gevo Inc. announced it had broken ground on its Lake Preston, South Dakota, SAF production facility in mid-September. 

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Martinez Renewables, a 50/50 joint venture between Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Neste, is converting Marathon's oil refinery in Martinez, California, to renewable diesel. The project is nearing completion. 

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Biodiesel Magazine's annual production map showed 34 renewable diesel/SAF plants under development, construction or operating in the U.S., as of September. The following includes updates regarding some of these projects.

Renewable Diesel & SAF: Project Roundup Report

Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers Michael Timko, professor of chemical engineering, and Healther LeClerc, Ph.D. candidate, were guests on the Biodiesel Magazine podcast this fall. Timko and LeClerc are part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers at WPI that has been looking at ways to use food waste to make a renewable and more affordable fuel replacement for oil-based diesel. The work, led by Timko, is detailed in a paper recently published in the journal iScience. Through creation of biodiesel via a hydrothermal liquefaction method, the researchers believe they can bring the price of gas down significantly. BDM: Tell our listeners a bit about the backstory of your research and the driving force, and how you came up with the idea. Timko: We have been working on this for several years. The interest and motivation is that the U.S. alone produces many millions of tons of food waste every year. If left alone and out in landfills, it generates methane &hellip; besides that, it can decompose, cause problems for water quality, and it takes up a lot of space in our landfills. At the same time, food waste has a lot of embodied energy. The challenge with food waste is that it&rsquo;s very heavy and has a high water content&mdash;roughly half&mdash;and a lot of technologies that have been developed really aren&rsquo;t compatible with that high level of water. Also, there can be fats, lipids and greases in food waste, but it&rsquo;s not 100% FOG, so the typical biodiesel process, for example&mdash;taking used cooking oil and reacting with methanol&mdash;that kind of technology doesn&rsquo;t work for whole food waste. So, you need different technology. What we&rsquo;ve been working on for several years is a technology called hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). We didn&rsquo;t invent it, as it was discovered in the 1930s, but it&rsquo;s made a resurgence in the past 10 or 15 years &hellip; it&rsquo;s very compatible with wet waste. Basically, you take your organic stream, which probably has water in it, heat it up to temperatures that depend a bit on your product as well as your feed&mdash;maybe 250 to 250 degrees Celsius&mdash;with pressure that is sufficient that the water stays liquid, and a reaction time in the order of 10 mins to two hours. Out of that, you get several products, but the one we&rsquo;re trying to maximize is biocrude, which can be treated in a separate step, to produce something like biodiesel&mdash;we call it renewable diesel. Chemically it&rsquo;s closer to petroleum diesel than to FAME [fatty acid methyl ester] &hellip; BDM: Why is hydroxyapatite a good catalyst for this process, and what does it do? LeClerc: Real waste feeds have different things in it, like bones, and hydroxyapatite is a mineral found naturally in bones&mdash;it&rsquo;s made of calcium and phosphorus. What&rsquo;s really cool about this mineral it has a tunable chemical structure, so you can actually change the chemical structure and some of the properties of this mineral by the way that you synthesize it, and the pH of the medium that you synthesize the catalyst in. BDM: Can you tell us a little bit more about the pricing of the fuel resulting from this new process? LeClerc: The typical feedstock for the past 10 to 15 years, before waste became really prevalent, has been algae, which has the issue of a high cost to cultivate, even though it performs really well in the HTL process and gives you high yields. The [cultivation] cost is over $1,000 per dry ton, which leads to a minimum fuel selling price upwards of $10 per gallon of gas equivalent (GGE). When we do that with our food waste without our hydroxyapatite catalyst, we&rsquo;re able to bring the minimum fuel selling price to about $7 to $8 per GGE. With our catalyst, this drops all the way to about $4 without including any sort of environmental- or government-based incentives. Once we&rsquo;re able to include current incentives based on the Renewable Fuel Standard, then were able to bring it down to about $1.10 per GGE, which is an amazing price, especially in the sate of today&rsquo;s gasoline prices. Listen to the rest of the podcast: www.biodieselmagazine.com/pages/podcasts Don't Miss an Episode: Biodiesel Magazine&rsquo;s recent podcasts: S01 E08 Maximizing Opportunities, Overcoming Challenges and Serving Needs of UCO Collectors Featuring Kristof Reiter, Founder, Reiter Companies S01 E09 Alder Fuels: Powerful Partnerships and a 1 Billion-Gallon Goal Featuring Darren Fuller, SVP of Sales and Business Development, Alder Fuels Interested in being a guest? Contact Danielle Piekarski at dpiekarski@bbiinternational.com

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Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers Michael Timko, professor of chemical engineering, and Healther LeClerc, Ph.D. candidate, were guests on the Biodiesel Magazine podcast this fall

Podcast Preview with Michael Timko and  Heather LeClerc

Clean Fuels Alliance America hosted its annual member meeting in Washington this November with three major agenda items to accomplish: grow our membership, elect new leaders, and maintain relationships with congressional champions. In 2022, we welcomed several new members to our organization, including: &bull; CoverCress Inc., a seed technology company that is commercializing a new winter rotational seed oil crop. &bull; Royal DSM, a bioscience company that produces ingredients for animal nutrition, personal care and foods. &bull; National Oilheat Research Alliance, the oilheat industry&rsquo;s research and education association. &bull; PSC Group LLC, which provides product handling and logistics services for the chemical, refining and marine transportation industries. &bull; ROC 1954, a small fuel and lubricant distribution service in Las Vegas. &bull; Third Coast Commodities, a group that trades fats and oils as well as biofuels and heating oil. &bull; Magellan Midstream Partners LLP, a fuel distribution, storage and transportation company. The growing membership speaks to the diversity and breadth of our industry, which is also reflected in our new leadership. During the November member meeting, we elected new governing board leaders and appointed a new executive committee to lead the board over the next two years. These leaders represent the interests of both large and small companies, biodiesel and renewable diesel producers, as well as soybean growers and renderers. Our board members bring together views and priorities from each part of the clean fuel value chain. The industry is growing rapidly to meet U.S. demand for better, cleaner fuels, and that is generating economic activity and supporting well-paying job opportunities across the country. Our elected board members will help us meet the challenge of supporting growth for every sector of the industry. Clean Fuels members voted to fill eight vacant board seats for two-year terms. Members reelected are:&nbsp; Greg Anderson, Nebraska Soybean Board; Tim Keaveney, HERO BX; Gary Louis, Seaboard Energy LLC; Mike Rath, Darling Ingredients Inc.; Rob Shaffer, ASA;&nbsp; and Paul Teta, Kolmar Americas Inc. Also elected were Courtney Lawrenson of Ag Processing Inc., who is new to our leadership, and Tim Ostrem of South Dakota Soybean Checkoff, who is returning to the board. Continuing to serve on the board for a second year are: Danielle Brannan, New Leaf Biofuel; Kent Engelbrecht, ADM; Neville Fernandes, Chevron Renewable Energy Group; Chris Hill, Minnesota Soybean Research &amp; Promotion Council; Ryan Pederson, North Dakota Soybean Council; Harry Simpson, Crimson Renewable Energy; and Dave Walton, Iowa Soybean Association. The board appointed Mike Rath to serve as chair, Rob Shaffer as vice chair, Gary Louis as second vice chair, Ryan Pederson as treasurer, Paul Teta as secretary, and Kent Engelbrecht as past chair. Most of the attendees at our November member meeting also participated in constituent meetings with elected officials and their staff. Clean Fuels hosted 63 meetings with congressional offices, nine of which were with congressmembers or senators. The meetings were evenly divided between House and Senate offices representing 20 states. These visits to Capitol Hill help to educate congressional staff and policymakers about our industry and to build relationships between them and our members. They are a key part of our advocacy strategy to support the growth of the industry, and a key feature of our annual members meetings. Donnell Rehagen CEO, Clean Fuels Alliance America CleanFuels.org

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Clean Fuels Alliance America hosted its annual member meeting in Washington this November with three major agenda items to accomplish: grow our membership, elect new leaders, and maintain relationships with congressional champions.

INSIDE CFAA:Clean Fuels Welcomes New Members

The U.S. EPA on Dec. 1 released a final rule to create canola oil fuel pathways under the Renewable Fuel Standard for renewable diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and heating oil produced via a hydrotreating process. Per the rule, these fuel pathways meet the lifecycle greenhouse gas emission reduction threshold of 50% required to generate D4 biomass-based diesel and D5 advanced biofuel renewable identification numbers (RINs) under the RFS. Based on that determination, the agency is adding the canola oil fuel pathways to the list of approved pathways in the RFS regulations. Renewable diesel, jet fuel and heating oil produced with canola are eligible to generate D4 RINs if they are produced through a hydrotreating process that does not coprocess renewable biomass and petroleum, and for D5 RINs if they are produced through a process that does coprocess renewable biomass and petroleum. Naphtha and LPG production from canola oil using a hydrotreating process are also eligible to generate D5 RINs. A fuel pathway for the production of biodiesel and heating oil produced from canola oil via a transesterification process is already approved for the generation of D4 biomass-based diesel RINs. In late October, Alder Fuels announced that it has selected BTG Bioliquids to be part of the first Alder Greencrude processing facility in the U.S. Southeast. Bryan Sherbacow, president and CEO of Alder Fuels, said the initial stage of the AGC process is technology neutral, which allows the company to pursue a range of providers. The Alder Fuels site is scheduled to start full-scale commercial production in 2024. Fast pyrolysis bio-oil conversion testing of Alder&rsquo;s feedstock has been completed at BTG&rsquo;s pilot- and demonstration-scale plants in the Netherlands. Clean Fuels Alliance America hailed California&rsquo;s Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2020, which reported a 16% decrease in transportation carbon emissions due in part to increasing use of biodiesel and renewable diesel. The state&rsquo;s analysis notes that the percentage of biodiesel and renewable diesel in the total diesel pool grew from 0.4 % in 2011 to 20.8 % in 2020 through the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. According to California Air Resources Board data, biodiesel and renewable diesel generated 44% of the LCFS credits in 2020. Topsoe's HydroFlex technology has been selected by Federated Co-operatives Ltd. to officially support the production of renewable diesel in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The FCL renewable diesel plant, once fully operational, will have the potential to produce 15,000 barrels per day. The facility will be part of a larger Integrated Agriculture Complex, which also includes a canola crushing plant. FCL expects to be producing renewable diesel in 2027. Shell Eastern Petroleum Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, has acquired EcoOils Ltd., a waste oil recycling firm. This acquisition is part of Shell&rsquo;s ambition to increase production of sustainable, low-carbon fuels for transport, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The acquisition will include 100% of EcoOils&rsquo; Malaysian subsidiaries and 90% of its Indonesian subsidiary. Sunweb Group, a European travel organization, and Neste have entered into a new partnership under which Sunweb Group purchases 306 tons (approximately 100,000 gallons) of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from Sunweb flights. The SAF volume purchased provides an emission reduction equaling the amount of GHG emissions from all Sunweb flights departing in 2022. Sunweb does not own any aircraft itself, but uses commercial airlines for air travel to various holiday destinations. The U.S. exported 94,391.3 metric tons of biodiesel and biodiesel blends of B30 or greater in September, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on Nov. 3. Biodiesel imports were at 65,176 metric tons for the month. The 94,391.3 metric tons of biodiesel exported in September was up from both the 88,142.4 metric tons exported the previous month and the 55,072.7 metric tons exported in September 2021. The U.S. exported biodiesel to approximately eight countries in September. Canada was the top destination for U.S. biodiesel exports at 85,540.9 metric tons, followed by Peru at 8,427.7 metric tons and Germany at 326.7 metric tons. The value of U.S. biodiesel exports was at $188 million in September, down slightly from $189.99 million in August, but up substantially from $65.23 million in September of last year. The U.S. imported biodiesel from approximately five countries in September. Germany was the top provider of biodiesel to U.S. at 354,929.6 metric tons, followed by Canada at 26,094.2 metric tons and South Korea at 4,030.6 metric tons. The value of U.S. biodiesel imports reached $131.91 million in September, up from both $113.87 million the previous month and $91.99 million in September 2021. A group of five lawmakers on Dec. 2 announced plans to introduce legislation that aims to change the way renewable identification numbers (RINs) are generated and traded under the Renewable Fuel Standard by directing the U.S. EPA to issue the credits at a fixed cost. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, and Chris Coons, D-Delaware, and Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pennsylvania, Brendan Boyle, D-Pennsylvania, and Donald Norcross, D-New Jersey, are the five lawmakers who announced plans for the bill. A statement released by the lawmakers references several oil refineries located within their states and explains the upcoming bill would reduce RFS compliance costs for the companies that own those facilities. According to information released by Casey&rsquo;s office, the bill would direct the EPA to issue RINs at a lower, fixed cost for compliance with the conventional renewable fuel requirement. The lawmakers said this &ldquo;government backstop-RIN&rdquo; would create new source of revenue that could be directed toward the research, development and deployment of advanced biofuels, incentives to support advanced biofuels feedstock production, and support for wildlife and habitat restoration. Neste has agreed to acquire the used cooking oil (UCO) collection and aggregation business and related assets in the U.S. from Crimson Renewable Energy Holdings LLC. The transaction includes shares in SeQuential Environmental Services LLC and Pure LLC, as well as a UCO processing plant in Salem, Oregon. The transaction is subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. The U.S. EPA on Dec. 1 released its long-awaited Renewable Fuel Standard set rule, which includes renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2023, 2024 and 2025. The proposed rule expands the program beyond liquid fuels to include certain types of renewable electricity used to fuel cars. It sets the 2023, 2024 and 2025 RVOs at 20.82 billion gallons, 21.87 billion gallons and 22.68 billion gallons, respectively. For 2023, a 250-million-gallon supplemental obligation would also be imposed. The EPA has proposed to set the 2023 total RVO at 20.82 billion gallons, up 190 million gallons when compared to the 2022 RVO finalized earlier this year. The 2023 blend target includes the nested requirements of 720 million gallons of cellulosic fuel, 2.82 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel and 5.82 billion gallons of advanced biofuel. Conventional biofuels, such as corn ethanol, could fill up to 15 billion gallons of the RVO requirement. The 250-million-gallon supplemental obligation boosts the total 2023 obligation to 21.07 billion gallons. For 2024, the EPA is proposing to increase the total RVO by 1.05 billion gallons to 21.87 billion gallons, including 1.42 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuel, 2.89 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel, and 6.62 billion gallons of advanced biofuel. For 2025, the agency proposes to increase blend obligations by an additional 810 million gallons to 22.68 billion. The nested RVO would include 2.13 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuel, 2.95 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel, and 7.43 billion gallons of advanced biofuel. The volume of conventional biofuels that can be used to meet RFS blend requirements would be maintained at 15.25 billion gallons.

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A roundup of industry news from the Winter Edition of Biodiesel Magazine.

News Roundup

According to a U.S. EIA report released in early December, U.S. biofuels operable production capacity increased 500 MMgy in the year leading up to the end of September. Biodiesel industry capacity growth has been flat, with about 2.084 billion gallons as of September, down slightly from September of last year. Exports, however, are up slightly. That same month saw a rise to 94,391 metric tons, up from both the 88,142 metric tons exported the previous month and the 55,072 metric tons exported in September 2021. Despite this stagnant growth period for U.S. biodiesel capacity, there are many bright spots. I encourage you to check out the Clean Fuels Alliance America&rsquo;s section on page 12, one topic of which provides an overview of national policy and incentive movements&mdash;passed and promising&mdash;that should help spur more consumption and subsequent development.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Backing up to visit capacity for renewable diesel and associated fuels, it was at 2.134 billion gallons in September, nearly doubling&mdash;up 1.12 billion gallons&mdash;when compared to September of last year. Speaking of capacity buildout, on page 16 you&rsquo;ll find a renewable diesel and SAF project development report, the beginning of which includes some snippets of conversation I had with Mindi Farber-DeAnda, team lead of the U.S. EIA&rsquo;s Petroleum &amp; Natural Gas Modeling. She had some interesting things to say in terms of what the EIA is seeing and projecting. Note that the project updates are not inclusive of all operating/under development capacity in the U.S., but our 2023 annual map is&mdash;to the best of our knowledge&mdash;and it will be mailed out to subscribers. The other feature article in this issue, &ldquo;Something Big is Coming,&rdquo; profiles Downy Ridge Environmental Company&rsquo;s journey to success in deploying Greasezilla, its fats, oils and grease separation technology, at U.S. wastewater treatment plants. In the story, freelance writer Keith Loria chats with Ron Crosier, president of the company, who has been in the liquid waste business for close to 30 years. He told Loria that initially, the plan was not to market the technology&mdash;in fact, it was developed by Downy Ridge back in 2008 to solve its own grease problem. After scoring a patent, the company had installed nearly 20 units by the end of 2022, according to Crosier, and will double that by the end of next year.
Among lots of other expert-contributed content in this issue is an article authored by Graham Noyes, executive director of the Low Carbon Fuels Alliance, and Alex Menotti, vice preside of corporate and government affairs at LanzaJet, who discuss positive implications of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge, and whether there is sufficient policy to meet goals. In short, according to Noyes and Menotti, current incentives will accelerate industry expansion and provide an essential policy building block, but as the SAF industry moves forward in pursuit of its 2030 and 2050 market goals, continued expansion and evolution of state and federal SAF policy will be essential for success. Author: Anna Simet Biodiesel Magazine

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As the SAF industry moves forward in pursuit of its 2030 and 2050 market goals, continued expansion and evolution of state and federal SAF policy will be essential for success.


Building Out Capacity,  Policy and Technology

BDI-BioEnergy International has completed a next-generation biodiesel production plant in Bakersfield, California, for Crimson Renewable Energy, based on BDI’s patented RepCAT technology. The plant, now with an approximate production capacity of 37 MMgy, will mainly operate with waste oils and fats collected in the local region, especially from central and southern California metro area. The companies held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completed project in April (pictured above).The renewable diesel conversion project at CVR Energy’s Wynnewood, Oklahoma, refinery is nearly complete. The renewable diesel unit is expected to be fully operational in Q2, initially utilizing a mix of pretreated soybean oil and corn oil. Work is progressing on the expected installation of a feedstock pretreatment unit that will allow the facility to process a wider variety of lower-carbon-intensity feedstocks. In addition, engineering and design work is underway to evaluate a potential renewable conversion project at the company’s refinery in Coffeyville, Kansas, which may include sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production in addition to renewable diesel. ENGlobal Corp. has been selected by a confidential client to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a renewable fuels plant designed to produce approximately 100 MMgy of SAF and renewable diesel. The U.S.-based plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2024, and will utilize licensed processes from Haldor Topsoe A/S. Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Neste Corp. have entered into definitive agreements to form a 50/50 joint venture to produce renewable diesel following a conversion project at Marathon’s existing refinery in Martinez, California. Marathon has been working to convert the Martinez facility to renewable diesel production for several years. The company has completed a similar conversion project at its refinery in Dickinson, North Dakota. That project, with a capacity of 180 MMgy, began operating at full capacity during the second quarter of 2021. The Martinez project will now be structured as a 50/50 joint venture with Neste. Neste is expected to contribute $1 billion to the project, inclusive of half the total project development costs projected for completion. Marathon will continue to manage project execution and operate the facility once construction is complete. Phillips 66 is moving forward with Rodeo Renewed, a project to convert its San Francisco Refinery in Rodeo, California, into one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities. The project recently received approval from Contra Costa County and is expected to cost approximately $850 million. Upon completion of Rodeo Renewed, the converted facility will no longer process crude oil, instead using waste oils, fats, greases and vegetable oils to produce an initial 800 MMgy of renewable transportation fuels, including renewable diesel, renewable gasoline and SAF. Commercial operations are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024. Parkland Corp. plans to build a stand-alone renewable diesel complex at its existing Burnaby, British Columbia, crude and synthetic oil refinery, which it also plans to expand by 5,500 barrels per day (b/d). The renewable diesel operation will be capable of producing approximately 6,500 b/d. The projects will require a collective investment of approximately $600 million. Parkland has received B.C. government support for over 40% of the project costs in the form of B.C. Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Compliance Credits. Air Products is teaming up with World Energy to build a $2 billion major expansion project at World Energy’s SAF production and distribution hub in Paramount, California. The Los Angeles County facility is the world’s first commercial-scale and North America’s only operational SAF production facility, according to Air Products, and its total fuel capacity will be expanded to 340 MMgy. The long-term, take-or-pay agreement with World Energy includes Air Products’ construction, ownership and operation of a new hydrogen plant, with the renewable fuels manufacturing facilities to be operated by World Energy. The project is scheduled to come online in 2025 Refuel Energy Inc. has begun planning construction of a 3,000 b/d renewable fuel facility in southern Ontario. The plant would utilize Haldor Topsøe’s proprietary HydroFlex and H2bridge technologies for the production of hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel and SAF. Fluor Corp. is the contractor for the facility, dubbed Refuel YYZ, and will be providing front end engineering and design services, as well as detailed engineering, procurement and construction management support. Refuel Energy expects to make a final investment decision in 2023. If approved, production would begin in 2025. The Queensland, Australia, government announced that Australia-based Oceania Biofuels is developing a proposed 92.5 MMgy renewable diesel and SAF biorefinery in Gladstone, on the eastern coast of Queensland approximately 300 miles north of Brisbane. Construction of the $500 million project is expected to begin next year. Once operational, the plant will process locally sourced feedstocks, including tallow, canola and used cooking oil. Twain Financial Partners closed a $136 million ground purchase and leaseback arrangement for a $300 million renewable diesel facility under development by New Rise Renewables Reno LLC in Reno, Nevada. The latest phase of construction will include a feedstock pretreatment facility, wastewater treatment facility and energy recovery system. The facility is expected to be complete by November and will be able to produce 3,000 b/d of renewable diesel.&nbsp; The Oregon Department of State Lands approved the Removal-Fill Permit for Next Renewable Fuels’ $2 billion clean fuels project at Port Westward in Columbia City, Oregon. The approval allows Next to build a renewable diesel facility that will be capable of producing more than 37,500 b/d (600 MMgy) at initial startup, growing to more than 50,000 b/d at full capacity.&nbsp; Currently in the permitting phase, the facility is scheduled to open in 2024.&nbsp; Strategic Biofuels reported that its Louisiana Green Fuels project in Caldwell Parish has finished the preliminary engineering phase and has moved into front end engineering design. Hatch is the project engineering partner and Koch Project Solutions is the project management and EPC partner. Strategic Biofuels’ business model is focused on achieving a negative carbon footprint through carbon capture and sequestration, renewable power and forestry waste feedstocks. It is expected to produce approximately 33 MMgy of renewable fuels, with an approximate 88%/12% renewable diesel to naptha ratio. Construction is scheduled for 2023, with operations slated for late 2025 or early 2026.&nbsp; A team of foremost energy industry companies led by SGP BioEnergy joined the government of Panama to announce development of Biorefineria Ciudad Dorada (Golden City Biorefinery), located in Colon and Balboa, Panama. Once online, they believe it will be the largest advanced biorefinery and SAF production platform in the world, producing 180,000 b/d&nbsp; (2.6 billion gallons per year) of biofuel.&nbsp; Developed in partnership with private landowners, Panama Oil Terminals) and the Panama government, this project will repurpose existing facilities currently processing and storing 70% of the country's bunker fuel oil to the refinement and storage of biofuels derived from purpose-grown plant oils and waste fats and greases. The project is expected to be complete within five years.

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BDI-BioEnergy International has completed a next-generation biodiesel production plant in Bakersfield, California, for Crimson Renewable Energy, based on BDI’s patented RepCAT technology. The plant, now with an approximate production capacity of 37 MMgy, will mainly operate with waste oils and fats collected in the local region, especially from central and southern California metro area. The companies held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completed project in April (pictured above).

2023 Winter Issue 1

Columns

Building Out Capacity, Policy and Technology

Featured

Something Big is Coming

Renewable Diesel & SAF: Project Roundup Report

Contributions

SPOTLIGHT Reiter Software; Used Cooking Oil: Staying in Compliance for Incentives

SPOTLIGHT BDI BioEnergy International GmbH; Ever-Advancing Pretreatment

SAF: Policy to Pave the Way