Biofuels thread

[GRA]

Via GCC:

EIA: Renewable diesel increasingly used to meet California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard; 10.1% of total diesel supplied in 2Q18

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/11/20181115-rd.html

Renewable diesel net supply to California’s fuel market has increased since the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program went into effect in 2011, reaching 100 million gallons during the second quarter of 2018, or 10.1% of the total diesel supplied to California that quarter, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). . . .

As carbon intensity requirements have become progressively more stringent, prices for LCFS credits have increased. Throughout most of the program’s history, LCFS credits averaged lower than $100/metric ton (mt). During 2017, LCFS credits averaged $89/mt, growing to $164/mt through the first 10 months of 2018, suggesting an increasing difficulty for refiners, importers, and wholesalers in meeting annual carbon intensity targets, the EIA said.

The credits generated by renewable diesel producers have some of the lowest carbon intensities of any of the LCFS-approved liquid fuel pathways. The average carbon intensity of renewable diesel, measured in grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per megajoule (gCO2e/MJ), has been about 30 gCO2e/MJ since spring 2016.

Much of this low carbon intensity fuel is made from used cooking oil feedstock. Compared with other liquid transportation fuels, renewable diesel’s carbon intensity is approximately 20 gCO2e/MJ lower than ethanol and about equal to the average carbon intensity of biodiesel. Ultra-low sulfur diesel, which accounts for most of the diesel supplied in California, has a carbon intensity of 102 gCO2e/MJ.

Under the LCFS program, renewable diesel generates a large number of credits relative to other fuels because it has some of the largest lifecycle greenhouse gas reductions compared with other fuels. The total volume of LCFS credits associated with renewable diesel exceeded that of fuel ethanol for the first time in 2018, reaching about 870,000 mt of carbon dioxide equivalent during the second quarter of 2018.

While renewable diesel imports from Singapore remain significant, planned renewable diesel production capacity additions during the next several years have the potential to increase the share of domestic renewable diesel in the California market. A number of LCFS amendments are slated to go into effect in 2019, including an extension of the program to increase the total reduction in carbon intensity to at least 20% by 2030.

[GRA]

GCC:

Fuel suppliers, airlines partner to provide sustainable jet fuel at SFO

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/12/20181212-sfo.html

Shell Aviation and SkyNRG have begun supplying sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to international airlines KLM, SAS and Finnair at San Francisco Airport (SFO). The fuel is produced by World Energy.

The initial phase of the arrangement aims to pave the way for longer term, more resilient supply chains for sustainable aviation fuels and reduce the carbon emissions of flights from SFO and other airports. Following May’s agreement, Shell Aviation is the first major fuel supplier to support SFO in its ambition to expand the use of sustainable aviation fuel in its operations. . . .

The SAF sourced by SkyNRG from World Energy’s Paramount refinery in Los Angeles is made from used cooking oil, resulting in a fuel that has significantly lower lifecycle carbon emissions than conventional jet fuel. In general, sustainable aviation fuel has a reduction potential of 60-80%, compared to conventional jet fuel.

The SAF is supplied through the existing SFO refuelling infrastructure and can be used by airlines without requiring technical modification to their current fleets.

The comment by Engineer-Poet describes the practical limits of this approach:

Consumption of vegetable oils in the USA 2014-16 was only 38.6 kg/capita. If all of this wound up as WVO (waste vegetable oil) at 7 lb/gallon it would only make 12.2 gallons/capita, or about 3.77 billion gallons (90 million bbl) per year.

2017 US consumption of jet fuel was 1.682 million barrels a day. Converting all US vegetable oil to jet fuel would have fed demand for about 56 days. This is the definition of "cannot scale".

[GRA]

All GCC:

Etihad Airways flies first flight using fuel made in the UAE from plants grown in saltwater

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/01/20190124-etihad.html

The Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium (SBRC), a non-profit entity established by Masdar Institute that is part of Khalifa University of Science and Technology, announced the world’s first commercial flight using locally produced sustainable fuel on an Etihad Airways Boeing 787 powered by GE’s GEnx-1B engines. (Earlier post.)

The flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam marked a milestone in the development of a clean, alternative aviation fuel to reduce carbon emissions. The initiative also addresses food security in the UAE through the farming of seafood as a core element in the process.

The SBRC partners have been working together to prove the concept of a comprehensive value chain that is centered around the Seawater Energy and Agriculture System (SEAS). This is a synergistic industrial platform that supports the aviation sector, the oil and gas industry, food production and the creation of a new agricultural alternative in the UAE.

Sustainable fuel for the flight was derived from oil in Salicornia plants, which were grown on the two-hectare SEAS farm in Masdar City. The SEAS is the world’s first desert ecosystem designed to produce fuel and food in saltwater. Fish and shrimp raised at the facility provide nutrients for the plants as well as contribute to the UAE’s food production. . . .

Gevo joins SFO consortium to advance sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/01/20190123-gevo.html

Gevo has signed on to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a group of eight airlines and certain fuel producers to work cooperatively on expanding the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). (Earlier post.) . . .

SFO is working on a study to identify the necessary supply chain and infrastructure required to make this expansion of SAF at the airport a reality, and is preparing an implementation plan to do so. SFO is positioning for increased interest in the California market for SAF producers and suppliers, given the additional incentives likely to be made available, through a California Air Resources Board ruling allowing the opt-in inclusion of SAF in the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). This is the first sub-national government to offer any incentive for the benefits provided by SAF.

The four airlines—United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Cathay Pacific—represent nearly 70% of all flights at SFO, while the four fuel producers include SFO’s two primary suppliers, Chevron Corporation and Shell Oil Company along with Neste and LanzaTech, Inc.

Together with SFO Fuel Company, LLC, the Airport’s Fuel Consortium, Gevo and these partners will strive to increase SAF supply globally and at SFO.

Airlines at SFO currently use more than 1 billion gallons of jet fuel annually. If SAF suppliers are able to increase global supply from the current 5 million gallons per year to 500 million gallons per year, the use of SAF could prevent nearly 4.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year—equivalent to taking more than one million cars off the roads. . . .