ADM, Marathon finalise

IN BRIEF

MALAYSIA: China’s stateowned Shanxi Construction Investment Group is planning to invest in a hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) plant in the southern state of Johor, Reuters reported on 13 December.

Shanxi’s overseas department general manager Wang Chongjun said the company was exploring the development of a refinery and related storage facilities at Pengerang Maritime Industrial Park to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), green diesel, and green chemicals. The products would be used to meet the needs of the Chinese market but would also be exported to Europe and the USA, Wang said.

BRAZIL: Soyabean processing volumes are forecast to hold up until at least the first half of this year despite the government’s decision to hold the country’s biodiesel mandate at 10%, trade sources told AgriCensus.

The industry had been expecting a mandate increase from the current 10% to 13% for January/February and 14% from March, the 8 December report said.

Despite the mandate not increasing, high prices for soyabean meal and oil were expected to continue to provide good processing margins, with strong demand for soyabeans looking likely to continue through the first half of 2022, AgriCensus wrote.

USA: The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a US$800M support package for the biofuels sector – comprising US$700M in COVID-19 relief for producers and US$100M in infrastructure funding to support the use of higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel, Biodiesel magazine reported on 7 December.

ADM, Marathon finalise renewable diesel deal

US refiner Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) and global agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) have finalised a joint venture for the production of soyabean oil to supply growing demand for renewable diesel, ADM announced on 14 December.

Details of the joint venture were first announced in August, when ADM said the Green Bison Soy Processing joint venture would own and operate a soyabean processing complex in Spiritwood, North Dakota, with ADM owning 75% of the company and MPC owning 25%.

Due for completion in 2023, the US$350M facility would source and process local soyabeans and exclusively supply the soyabean oil produced to MPC, ADM said.

With a production capacity of approximately 272,155 tonnes/year (600M pounds/year), the Spiritwood complex is expected to supply feedstock for approximately 284M litres/year (75M gallons/year) of renewable diesel, according to the ADM statement.

Exxon Mobil in algae biofuel venture

Multinational oil and gas company ExxonMobil has teamed up with privately-held biotechnology firm Viridos – previously known as Synthetic Genomics – to produce biofuel from algae.

The two companies signed a joint agreement for the commercial production of Viridos’ low-carbon intensity biofuels, Viridos said on 19 November.

“In this next phase of the programme, we intend to broaden participation and invite others to build the ecosystem required for full-scale deployment,” Viridos CEO Dr Oliver Fetzer said.

In addition to their use in heavy transport, the algae biofuels could be used for aviation, commercial trucking and maritime shipping.

The terms of the partnership with ExxonMobil should also allow other interested parties access to Viridos’ technology, Viridos said.

“Our research with Viridos is one facet of our approach to help society identify and deploy the biofuels needed to reduce emissions from

ExxonMobil says advanced biofuels could minimise impacts on land, fresh water and food supplies

important sectors of the economy, including heavy duty transportation,” ExxonMobil vice president of Research and Development Vijay Swarup said.

No food impact from advanced biofuels

Growing demand for biomass-based diesel advanced biofuels can be met with projected supply of lipid feedstocks until 2030 without affecting food resources, according to a new study commissioned by the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA).

In the study, LMC International looked at the outlook for lipid feedstock supply to see if it could meet ABFA’s objectives for carbon reduction by reaching 21bn gallons (80bn litres) of biomass-based diesel by 2040, ABFA said on 7 December.

Total global lipid feedstock supply is expected to increase from 246M tonnes in 2020 to 330M tonnes in 2030, according to the LMC study.

To reach ABFA’s 2040 target, production would need to reach close to 34bn litres in 2030, requiring 32M tonnes of lipids. Feedstock supplies in the USA were found to be sufficient to meet the forecast demand after accounting for food.

Soyabean oil had the most potential for growth in the USA, while prospects for waste oils were limited due to the fact that collection and extraction rates were already high.

Outside the USA, there was more scope for growth in waste oil supply in countries with less developed collection networks.

Global demand for non-biofuel end uses (food, feed and chemicals) was forecast to rise from 168M tonnes in 2020 to 210M tonnes in 2030, the LMC International report said.

Lipid biofuels demand in the four key biofuel consuming countries was forecast to reach 51M tonnes in 2030, up from 24M tonnes in 2020.