Image: U.S. EIA, based on California Air Resources Board
November 15, 2018
BY Ron Kotrba
The net supply of renewable diesel to California’s fuel market reached 100 million gallons during the second quarter of this year, topping 10 percent of the total diesel supplied to the state in that quarter, according to a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Driving demand for low-carbon fuels like renewable diesel and biodiesel is, naturally, the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which regulates and incrementally reduces greenhouse gas emissions from motor fuels by 20 percent through 2030 compared to a 2010 baseline (originally 10 percent by 2020) by assigning carbon intensities to various fuels.
Carbon intensity is measured in grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per megajoule (gCO2e/MJ), and the average carbon intensity of renewable diesel is about 30 gCO2e/MJ, which is approximately the same as biodiesel’s average carbon intensity. Ethanol, however, averages roughly 50 gCO2e/MJ. Ultra-low sulfur diesel averages about 102 gCO2e/MJ.
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Low-carbon fuels generate credits that can be bought, sold and traded by regulated parties to meet requirements. According to the EIA, the total volume of LCFS credits associated with renewable diesel exceeded that of fuel ethanol for the first time in 2018, reaching about 870,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent during the second quarter.
“While renewable diesel imports from Singapore remain significant, planned renewable diesel production capacity additions during the next several years have the potential to increase the share of domestic renewable diesel in the California market,” the EIA report states.
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Keolis Commuter Services, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s operations and maintenance partner for the Commuter Rail, has launched an alternative fuel pilot utilizing renewable diesel for some locomotives.
The biodiesel industry has been facing turbulence, but the release of long-overdue policy could course-correct.
The U.S. House of Representatives early on May 22 narrowly passed a reconciliation bill that includes provisions updating and extending the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit. The bill, H.R. 1, will now be considered by the U.S. Senate.
U.S. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on May 21 stressed the agency is working “as fast as humanly possible” to finalize a rulemaking setting 2026 RFS RVOs during a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Clean Fuels Alliance America on May 22 delivered a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, urging him to set the 2026 RFS biomass-based diesel volume at no less than 5.25 billion gallons and allow continued growth in the 2027 volumes.