China Halts Expansion of Corn Ethanol Industry; Focus on Biomass Feedstocks
European Commission Proposes Bringing Air Transport into Emissions Trading Scheme

ConocoPhillips Begins Production of Renewable Diesel Fuel at Whitegate Refinery

Coprd
Simplified refinery pathway for hydrogenation of vegetable oil. Click to enlarge.

ConocoPhillips has begun commercial production of renewable diesel fuel at the company’s Whitegate Refinery in Cork, Ireland.

The production process, developed by ConocoPhillips, hydrogenates vegetable oils to produce a renewable diesel fuel component that meets European Union standards.

The refinery is producing 1,000 barrels per day (42,000 gallons US) of renewable diesel fuel for sale into the Irish market. The fuel, with vegetable oil as the feedstock, is produced using existing equipment at the refinery and is blended and transported with petroleum-based diesel.

The ConocoPhillips process can also be used to convert animal fats and oils to renewable diesel fuel.

ConocoPhillips developed the production process and conducted a successful test run at Whitegate last year. Soybean oil will be the primary renewable feedstock used, although the plant can also produce renewable diesel using rapeseed oil and other vegetable oils.

According to the UK Petroleum Industry Association, of which ConocoPhillips is a member, the specific chemical structure of the paraffinic hydrocarbons produced by the hyrdogenation of vegetable oils is defined by the natural oil source. Rapeseed oil (RSO) feedstock, for example, produces mostly C16, C18 and C22 molecules (diesel fuel is a complex mixture of compounds, mostly paraffinic, naphthenic and aromatic hydrocarbons from C10 to C22).

The hydrogenation of vegetable oils can be carried out by using the oils as feedstock to a refinery distillate hydrotreater. The product of vegetable oil hydrogenation is a liquid hydrocarbon mixture similar to diesel fuel components, and is high cetane, zero aromatic and sulphur free.

The precise value of the energy input and therefore the greenhouse gas emissions will be dependent on the oil that is being processed and the set-up of the refinery unit. Results from trials carried out using rape seed oil (RSO) as a feedstock to a high-pressure hydrotreating unit show that the hydrogenation of natural oil delivers a small reduction in GHG emissions compared with the esterification and blending process, according to the UKPIA.

Neste Oil is aggressively developing its own hydrogenation process for vegetable oils and fats—NExBTL—as a second-generation biofuels solution. (Earlier post.)

In 2005, the British government issued a tender to encourage refineries or other companies to investigate the use of hydrogenation as a means of producing renewable fuels. (Earlier post.)

Resources:

Comments

Marlon Nerling

There is none new Technology, since 2005 are Petrobras using this!
Search for H-Bio!

bioconfusion

All right, I'll ask: how does this work, and what fraction of the final product is biomass derived? "Normal" (non BTL) biodiesel is esterified to get the viscosity down to where modern high-pressure injection diesels can use it. Hydrogenation does the exact opposite (margarine is hydrogenated vegetable oil). Generally the more hydrogen per carbon you have (the more "saturated" it is) the more viscous and the higher the gel point -- think of palm oil vs canola oil. Why would you want to hydrogenate veg oil?

SJC

I would assume that this "hydrogenation" is like the hydrocracking that is used in oil refineries. It breaks longer carbon chains into shorter ones.

bioconfusion

Hmm, OK, except that most veg oils are C18 fatty acids (oleic, linoleic, linolenic...) which is right in the diesel fraction already. Hydrocracking to middle distillate is to render the really heavy, hydrogen-deficient fractions to something resembling liquid fuel (actually, I think most hydrocracking goes to even lighter fractions to make gasoline) Could it be "deglycerizing" triglycerides to FAs instead of FA esters?

Paul Dietz

Could it be "deglycerizing" triglycerides to FAs instead of FA esters?

More likely, it's removing (as water) the oxygen entirely from thr molecules, converting carboxyl groups to methyl groups and hydrogenating any carbon-carbon double bonds. If it's like the NExBTL process, the glycerine is similarly converted to propane.

Vin Diesel

Yeah, what are the differences between this process, Petrobras' H-Bio, and Neste's NExBTL?

BioD4all

does anyone know details about the Neste or Conoco processes? [email protected]

electrical fire place

The reunion comes about as result of a fly on the wall documentary being made about Egg. Clare, a young twenty- something, film maker is following Egg's every move and it is she who comes up with the idea to get them all back together. Not surprisingly, Egg has a bit of a thing for Clare. Will it lead to anything...?

Mphonyana

Im a BTech Chemical Engineering doing research on green diesel production using vegetable oil for my Plant Design Practical. My problems: I dont know chemical formula of green diesel, naphtha as well as vegetable oil, reaction kinetics because I cant balance the equations for decarboxylation, hydrodeoxygenation and hydroisomerization reactions.Please do assist with a detailed process flowsheet/description or chemical formulas.

The comments to this entry are closed.