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TotalEnergies starts up SAF
from OFI May 2022
IN BRIEF
ITALY: Italian oil and gas firm Eni has pushed back its target to double hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) production capacity to 2M tonnes/year by one year to 2025 but expected capacity to grow at a much faster pace after that, Argus Media reported on 18 March.
Speaking at Eni’s 2022-25 strategy day, chief executive Claudio Descalzi said the firm’s HVO production capacity would increase to up to 6M tonnes/year by around 2035, which compared with a previous target of 5M tonnes/year by 2050.
Eni currently runs a 650,000 tonnes/year HVO unit in Gela, Sicily, and a 350,000 tonnes/year plant in Venice.
USA: Global infrastructure consulting company AECOM announced on 23 March that it was partnering with renewable fuel technology firm Genifuel to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from algae and wastewater solids.
AECOM said its Algae Harvesting Hydro-nucleation Flotation Technology removed harmful algal blooms, cyanotoxins, nutrients and carbon from water, allowing recovered algae to be converted into commercial products such as biofuel.
TotalEnergies starts up SAF production in France
Global energy company TotalEnergies announced on 3 March that it had started production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at its new platform in Normandy, France.
The company said the new site complemented its bio-refinery at La Mède in Bouches-du-Rhône and its Oudalle plant in Seine-Maritime, and would enable it to meet customer demand and respond to French legislation calling for aircraft to use at least 1% SAF from the start of this year.
“We are responding to strong demand from the aviation industry to reduce its carbon footprint,” said TotalEnergies president of refining and chemicals Bernard Pinatel. “This commitment is fully aligned with the company’s climate ambition to get to net zero emissions by 2050.”
One of TotalEnergies refining & chemicals’ six integrated platforms worldwide, the new Normandy facility comprises a refinery, a petrochemicals facility and a polymer production site. The plant converts around 12M tonnes/year of crude oil into around 200 commonly-used products, including diesel, gasoline, kerosene, lubricants, oils and SAF. The refinery’s output also provides the petrochemicals facility and polymers units with feedstock to produce plastic pellets that are used to make a range of products.
TotalEnergies said it would also start producing SAF at its Grandpuits zero-crude platform, southeast of Paris, from 2024.
All of the SAF, which was destined for French airports, would be produced from waste and residue – including used cooking oil – sourced from the circular economy
Vibra moves to sell palm oil-based SAF
Brazilian fuel distributor Vibra Energia (Vibra) has extended its existing partnership with biofuel producer Brasil Biofuels (BBF) to move into producing and selling palm oil-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), BBF announced on 13 April.
BBF said Vibra had agreed to sell SAF produced at its Manaus biorefinery, adding that it would also be investing an additional US$43M in the venture, which would use palm oil sourced from the Amazon location of Roraima, Brazil’s northernmost state.
The new venture would be based in the city of São João da Baliza and was due to become operational in 2025. The plant would have a capacity of up to 250M litres/year of “green diesel” and 280M litres/year of SAF, BBF said.
The partnership between Vibra and BBF was set to last for five years and could be renewed after that, BBF said.
BBF is producing palm oil-based SAF at its Manaus biorefinery in Amazonas state
US renewable diesel supply will exceed that of biodiesel in the near term, according to latest forecasts by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
In its Annual Energy Outlook 2022, the EIA projects renewable diesel supply to increase to 130,000 barrels/day this year and 145,000 barrels/day in 2050, reflecting a “significant increase in renewable diesel production capacity” in the near term.
The EIA projected that the production of renewable diesel would increase due to its compatibility with existing distribution infrastructure and engines, higher state and federal targets for renewable fuel production, incentives from tax credits, and the conversion of existing petroleum refineries into renewable diesel refineries.
Targets and incentives contributing to renewable diesel’s growth include the US Renewable Fuel Standard, California’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard and the US biomass-based diesel blender credit, which allows taxpayers to claim a credit of US$1.00/gallon when the required amount of biodiesel or renewable diesel is blended with petroleum diesel for sale or use in a trade or business.
In its 24 March report, the EIA said policies, rather than market demand, were driving the adoption of biomass-based diesel.
“As renewable diesel and biodiesel compete for the same feedstocks, some of the projected growth in renewable diesel production displaces biodiesel production. We project these two fuels will remain a relatively small part of the larger diesel market, accounting for less than 8% of US diesel production in 2050,” the organisation said.
