FEEDSTOCK
BIOINTERMEDIATES:
PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES AND REGULATORY CHALLENGES While biointermediates present opportunities for biofuel producers, close attention should be paid to regulatory requirements. BY SARA M. HERMAN
The U.S. EPA published the proposed Renewable Fuels Standard annual rules in December. Within the proposed rules, EPA included a section on biointermediates—feedstocks that are partially processed at one location and further refined at another—and outlined a number of requirements related to the use of approved biointermediates. Allowing biofuel producers to use biointermediates as a feedstock source expands the current pool and gives producers additional options when it comes to managing their upstream sourcing. However, there are several requirements that both biofuel and biointermediate producers should be aware of as they plan for future production. Current State of Play The growth of the biofuels industry has always been tied to feedstock growth. Biofuels continue to play an impactful role in the global challenge to decarbonize, and feedstock innovation is a necessary component of industry growth. Biointermediates have long been lowhanging fruit for biofuel producers seeking to transform wastes into energy and grow the feedstock pool, whether it be from coproducts of biofuel production or biocrude from woody biomass. Traditional biofuels are also finding new applications, such as corn ethanol being upgraded to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). EPA does not currently allow biointermediates as qualified feedstocks for renewable fuel production under the RFS. Innovative solutions, like biocrude, cannot be used to produce biofuel that generates renewable identification numbers (RINs) under the current RFS. Lack
of approval from EPA effectively bars biointermediate producers from participating in the biofuels industry, and also stifles development of additional feedstock sources. Originally, EPA intended to make biointermediate feedstocks an integral part of the RFS in 2010 with the transition to RFS2, and again in 2016 with the Renewables Enhancement and Growth Support rule. Since the 2010 regulations were promulgated, the cellulosic category has stagnated, and—while EPA cites technology limitations—inflexible regulation around biointermediate inclusion in the program has more likely contributed to the lack of growth. EPA made another attempt to promote cellulosic growth and increase the economics and efficiency for biofuel producers, particularly for advanced and cellulosic fuels with lower carbon footprints through the REGS rule, but it was never finalized. In its most recent proposed rulemaking, published on Dec. 10, EPA included a regulatory change that could result in the approval of three types of biointermediates for biofuel production: biocrude, free fatty acids (FFAs), and undenatured ethanol. Incorporation of these three biointermediates would increase the overall feedstock pool for biofuel production, help to spur cellulosic production, supply more low carbon fuels domestically, and potentially result in deeper decarbonization through biofuels in the transportation fuel pool.
or gasification; FFAs from biogenic waste fats, oils and greases, distillers corn and sorghum oil, food wastes, oil crops and algal oil; and undenatured ethanol that meets U.S. Department of Treasury requirements. The industry has always been opportunistic and innovative in the feedstock arena, and the biointermediates subject to approval would continue this legacy. Biocrude represents a waste-to-energy opportunity for processing woody biomass and agricultural wastes in an intermediate facility for generation of D3 and D7 RINs, as long as the renewable biomass is predominately cellulosic. FFAs separated through pretreatment in an intermediate facility could now be used by producers to generate D4 and D5 RINs, and this approval would allow for a larger portion of the raw feedstock source to be transformed into energy. Finally, ethanol producers could sell undenatured ethanol to other producers to be upgraded into other products and generate RINs, including sustainable aviation fuel through alcohol-to-jet technologies. Biointermediate and biofuel producers who seek to expand the current proposed list of biointermediates must go through a formal rulemaking process—including notice and comment periods—that will closely mimic the process required to add a Table 1 pathway today. Approvals for new Table 1 pathways often take years to move through rulemaking, and it is likely that the same will be true for additional biointermediates.
Approved Biointermediates Biofuel producers who wish to use bioin- Regulatory Requirements for termediates are initially limited to the three in- Biointermediates cluded in the most recent rulemaking: biocrude Biofuel and biointermediate producers from renewable biomass processed by pyrolysis alike will have new requirements in conjunction
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2022 SUMMER EDITION
