8 biodiesel, 4 renewable diesel LCFS pathways certified in March

California Air Resources Board recently released a set of carbon intensity (CI) pathways for fuels certified under the readopted low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) using the CA-GREET 2.0 model. Eighteen total pathways have been certified in March, eight of which are for biodiesel and four for renewable diesel.

The eight Tier 1 (first generation) biodiesel CI pathways certified in March consist of five for Delek Renewables LLC, two for Renewable Energy Group Inc. and one for GeoGreen Biofuels.

Delek Renewables’ five pathways certified in March include three for the company’s plant in Cleburne, Texas, and two for its facility in Crossett, Arkansas. Certified pathways for Delek Renewables’ Texas plant are for tallow biodiesel railed to California (CI of 38.27 gCO2e/MJ); biodiesel produced from soybean oil and railed to California (CI 58.55); and biodiesel from used cooking oil (UCO) transported to California again by rail (CI 28.40). The two certified pathways for Delek Renewables’ Arkansas plant are for tallow biodiesel railed to California (CI 32.96) and soy biodiesel railed to California (CI 51.11).

Two pathways certified in March for REG’s Newton, Iowa, biodiesel plant are for UCO biodiesel railed to California (CI 22.50) and biodiesel made from distillers corn oil (DCO) railed to California (CI 34.10).

The provisional pathway certified in March for Vernon, California-based GeoGreen Biofuels is for biodiesel produced from UCO sourced in California (CI 18.26).

The four Tier 2 (second generation) renewable diesel CI pathways certified in March are all for Diamond Green Diesel, a 160 MMgy renewable diesel plant operating in Norco, Louisiana, currently undergoing a massive expansion to 275 MMgy. According to CARB, “DGD distributes its renewable diesel by various modes from the plant to various facilities in central and southern California. The three modes are ship, rail direct and rail indirect (barge, rail and truck). Because the most conservative mode, rail indirect, is used to calculate its CI value, DGD may use the other modes to ship the finished fuel.” Using a comingled feedstock accounting method, the DGD pathways certified in March are for renewable diesel from soybean oil (CI 53.86), UCO (CI 20.28), tallow (CI 30.00) and DCO (CI 31.27).

All pathways certified in March can be used for credit reporting beginning with reports for Q1 2017, according to CARB. Click here for more information.