Todd Borgmann, CEO of Calumet Specialty Products L.P., on Aug. 4 announced that all elements of the company’s Montana Renewables project met or outperformed expectations during the second quarter of 2023. Borgmann discussed the project during Calumet’s second quarter earnings call.

During the second quarter, the renewable diesel business ramped up operations, the facility started sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) shipments, and the advantaged pre-treater technology was derisked, according to Calumet’s second quarter report.

“As we stepped into this new business, it was essential that we quickly proved out the core operating pillars, which were ensuring the [renewable diesel unit] and hydrogen plant to run at planned rates, proving our new and leading pretreater technology, demonstrating catalyst performance and meeting SAF specifications,” Borgmann said. “We've demonstrated all of these core concepts.”

According to Borgmann, the Montana Renewables facility made on-spec products right out of the gate. He said the company is monitoring its catalysts closely, and they are performing as planned, even as the higher amounts of pretreated feedstock are added.

Borgmann noted that the company doesn’t know the maximum capacity of the renewable diesel unit, as it was never run at capacity prior to the renewables conversion. To date, the Montana Renewable neat has already demonstrated the unit’s ability to run over 13,000 barrels per day, he said.

The facility is also further expanding its feedstock sourcing. Borgman said the company just placed its first order for camelina, which will arrive in the next couple of weeks.  

Montana Renewables is also considering a pivot to what it calls max-SAF, which would expand total renewables capacity to an estimated 18,000 barrels per day, including 15,000 barrels per day of SAF. Borgmann said the internal process design work for the max-SAF expansion is already underway, and the company expects to make a final investment decision near the end of 2023.