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EU extends tariffs on US
IN BRIEF
SOUTH KOREA: Korean chemical firm LG Chem announced on 2 September that it had signed an agreement with Dansuk Industrial to build a hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) plant at Dansuk’s headquarters in Siheung city, Gyeonggi province, with a completed construction date of 2024.
HVO production would allow Dansuk to expand its first-generation biodiesel business to supply sustainable jet fuel, while LG Chem would be able to supply raw materials used to produce bio-SAP (high absorbent resin), ABS (high value synthetic resin) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride), LG said.
BRAZIL: Global technology firm ICM International announced on 3 August that it had agreed to design a bio-refinery in Mato Grosso do Sul state for energy company Neomille. The plant in Maracaju would produce over 500M litres/year of anhydrous ethanol or 540M/ year of hydrous ethanol, as well as 23M tonnes/year of corn oil. The new plant was due to become operational in the third quarter of 2023.
INDONESIA: Plans to increase biodiesel blending from 30% palm oil to 40% (B40) could be delayed due to high palm oil prices, a senior government official told Reuters. Authorities had planned to increase the mix to 40% in July but the timetable was now unclear, Reuters wrote on 26 August.
EU extends tariffs on US biodiesel for five years
The European Union (EU) has retained its tariffs on US biodiesel for a further five years after concluding that removing them would lead to a surge in imports at artificially low prices, Reuters reported.
Dating back to 2009, the tariffs would be extended until 2026, the EU official journal said on 2 August.
In its review of the case, the European Commission (EC) concluded that US producers could increase their capacity and also divert some of their exports from less profitable markets to the EU if the tariffs were removed, Reuters wrote.
US producers, who were benefiting from subsidies including tax credits, grants and loan guarantees, were already selling to third countries at prices below those in the USA, the report said.
The anti-dumping duties ranged from zero to €198 (US$235)/tonne, and duties related to subsidies from €211.2 to €237.0/tonne and were not cumulative, with the higher rate of the two duties applied.
The initial case was brought by the European Biodiesel Board on behalf of EU producers such as France’s Saipol and Germany’s Verbio, according to the Reuters report.
Steep rise in renewable diesel capacity
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast a sharp rise in the country’s renewable diesel production capacity by 2024, Biodiesel magazine reported on 22 July.
In its This Week in Petroleum report, the EIA said US renewable diesel production would reach 330,000 barrels/day by 2024, up from 38,000 barrels/day in 2020, Biodiesel wrote.
The expansion was due to growing targets for state and federal renewable fuel programmes and production incentives, the EIA said. Much of the increase would come from retrofitting idle petroleum refineries, such as Marathon Petroleum’s and Phillips 66’s plants in California.
Most current renewable diesel capacity was located on the Gulf Coast near existing oil refineries. Looking ahead, the EIA said the majority of new US renewable diesel capacity would be built on the West Coast to serve nearby low carbon fuel markets, while it was likely the remainder would be built on the Gulf Coast to capitalise on existing refinery infrastructure.
The EIA forecast that renewable diesel capacity would account for 5% of total US diesel production in 2024.
Meanwhile, US energy giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron are looking into how to process
Most current renewable diesel capacity in the USA is located near existing petroleum refineries
bio-based feedstocks like vegetable oils and partially processed biofuels with petroleum distillates to make renewable diesel, gasoline and aviation fuel at existing facilities, Reuters reported on 12 August.
Chevron was looking into how to run bio-feedstocks through its fluid catalytic crackers with a goal of co-processing bio-feedstocks by the end of 2021, the report said.
US energy firm Chevron and agribusiness giant Bunge announced on 2 September that they had formed a 50/50 joint venture to create renewable fuel feedstocks.
Bunge would contribute its soyabean processing facilities in Destrehan, Louisiana, and Cairo, Illinois, and Chevron around US$600M in cash to the venture.
The companies expected to approximately double the combined capacity of the facilities from 7,000 tonnes/day of soyabean by the end of 2024, they said.
Bunge would operate the facilities, while Chevron would have offtake rights to use the soyabean oil as renewable feedstock to produce low carbon diesel and jet fuel.
On 19 August, US refiner Marathon Petroleum Corporation and agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) also announced that they had formed a joint venture to produce soyabean oil to supply demand for renewable diesel.
The venture would own and operate ADM’s soya processing complex in Spiritwood, North Dakota. Expected to begin production in 2023, the complex would produce around 272,155 tonnes/year of refined soyabean oil – enough feedstock for around 283M litres/year of renewable diesel – and supply MPC exclusively.
