JSRE to use Honeywell tech at new SAF facility in China

US engineering conglomerate Honeywell has supplied Chinese company Sichuan Jinshang Environmental Protection Technology (JSRE) with technology for its new sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility in Suining, Sichuan Province, China.

Once completed, the facility was expected to be one of the largest SAF plants in China, Honeywell UOP said on 8 May.

Honeywell said JSRE would use its Ecofining technology, catalysts, and equipment to produce SAF using feedstocks such as used cooking oils (UCO) and animal fats.

Once operational, the plant would produce nearly 300,000 tonnes/year – around 6,000 barrels/day (bpd) of SAF, Honeywell said.

“Honeywell can help us promote the further development of SAF made from waste oils in China and in the regions of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, allowing us to achieve sustainable development,” JSRE chairman Ye Bin said.

Developed in conjunction with Eni SpA, Honeywell UOP’s Ecofining process can convert waste plant-based oils, animal fats and other waste feedstocks to renewable diesel and SAF.

When used in a 50% blend with petroleumbased jet fuel, SAF produced using the Ecofining process required no changes to aircraft technology, the company said.

Yield10 signs camelina offtake agreement

US agricultural bioscience company Yield10 Bioscience said on 1 May that it had signed a camelina offtake agreement with US refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp in which it would supply camelina feedstock oil to Marathon for use in the production of renewable fuel.

“Yield10 continues… its… plan to supply low-carbon intensity camelina feedstock oil to the growing North American biofuel market through a network of supply chain alliances,” Yield10 Bioscience president and CEO Oliver Peoples said.

Woburn-headquartered Yield10 develops crop systems and uses its ‘Trait Factory’ to develop improved camelina varieties. According to its website, the company’s goal is to establish a high-value seed products business based on developing camelina varieties for the production of feedstock oils, nutritional oils and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) bioplastics, and to license its yield traits to major seed companies for commercialisation in row crops, including canola, corn and soyabean.

Vertex Energy opens new renewable diesel unit

US speciality refining company Vertex Energy has officially opened its new unit in Saraland, Alabama, where it would process soyabeans into renewable diesel, NBC News reported on 29 April.

Previously operated by global oil giant Shell, the plant was taken over by Vertex more than a year ago, with the company working towards adding renewable diesel to its activities there.

In the first phase of production, Vertex could produce up to 8,000 barrels/ day (bpd) of renewable diesel, increasing to 14,000 bpd in a planned second phase, Vertex Energy mobile site general manager Wes Mock was quoted as saying.

Although most of the renewable diesel produced initially would be purchased by drivers in California, where incentives were in place to encourage its use, Mock said the plant could potentially help farmers in Alabama if the soyabeans were purchased in the state.