PBF Energy Inc. on May 5 announced that the renewable diesel production unit under development as part of the St. Bernard Renewables (SBR) project in Louisiana is mechanically complete. A feedstock pretreatment unit is under construction and scheduled for completion in June. Company officials discussed development of the project during a first quarter earnings call, held May 5.

The SBR renewable diesel project is collocated with PBF Energy’s oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to have the capacity to produce approximately 320 MMgy of biobased products, primarily renewable diesel. The biorefinery employs Ecofining technology developed by Eni in cooperation with Honeywell UOP. In February, PBF Energy and Eni Sustainable Mobility announced they have entered into definitive agreements to become 50-50 joint venture partners in the SBR project. That transaction is expected to close during the second or third quarter of this year.

PBF Energy President Matthew Lucey confirmed during the earnings call that the SBR project is mechanically complete and has been turned over to operations. He said the renewable diesel unit comprises the repurposed hydrocracker and ancillary supporting infrastructure. “We are in the commissioning stages now,” Lucey said, noting that the company plans to begin introducing feedstock to the unit this month, primarily vegetable oils and distillers corn oil. Construction on the feedstock pretreatment unit is ongoing and expected to be complete in June. That pretreatment unit will allow the unit to process lower carbon intensity (CI) feedstocks.