Key Benefits of Leveraging Biofuel Technologies

A variety of advantages can be derived from biofuel technologies, including efficiency, ease of sourcing, and cleaner, reduced pollution levels.

FREMONT, CA: Feedstock costs dominate production costs. Compared to transesterification, hydrogenation offers greater feedstock flexibility and lower production costs. Crude palm oils (CPO), palm fatty acid distillates (PFAD), or animal fat rich in free fatty acids (FFA) are cheaper feedstocks.

The hydrogenation process is at the demonstration stage in terms of maturity. Hydrogenation catalysts are one of the key development areas for improvement. Before becoming competitive, future generations of biofuels, such as oils produced from algae, are at the applied research and development stage. Overcapacity and liquidity issues limit the profitability of fossil oil refineries. By converting to biorefineries, existing infrastructure can be used for new revenue streams. Hydrogenation must be integrated into an oil refinery to avoid building a dedicated hydrogen production unit.

Whether oil companies and refineries deploy renewables or biodiesel depends on their interests. There has been reticence regarding hydrogenation due to potential technical risks associated with degrading hydrogenation catalysts.

Biodiesel/renewable energy: Biodiesel and renewable diesel are transportation fuels that differ in many key aspects, including chemical processes, technologies, and blending complexity.

The biodiesel is produced in standalone plants with their own hydrotreating equipment and can be blended with conventional diesel from oil refineries or co-processed with it. In co-processing plants, existing conventional oil refineries are hydrotreated to produce a single, blended diesel output. The hydrogenation plant's capital costs are reduced, but the refinery's petroleum-based diesel output is also reduced.

The sugar-to-jet process: By fermenting sugar with microbes, it is converted into farnesane, which is a jet fuel blendstock. The deployment of this pathway is limited. The only commercial farnesene plant in the world is in Brotas, Brazil, with a capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year. In order to achieve better sustainability, sugar should be derived from lignocellulose biomass instead of edible crops such as sugar cane.

Biological LPG: As a byproduct of the production of renewable diesel (HVO), bioLPG is also called propane and renewable propane. According to SHV Energy, every tonne of HVO generates 50 kg of LPG. As a drop-in fuel, bioLPG is chemically identical to LPG but with a lower carbon footprint.

Though it is more expensive than conventional LPG, the gap between the new and traditional fuels is not as wide as it can be with other bio-based fuels.