Synthetic fuel from biomass coming to California

BLUEFUELENERGY.COM: Rentech, Inc. recently announced plans to build in Rialto, California a plant that uses biomass to produce synthetic fuel. The plant will also produce 35 megawatts of renewable electricity to be sold into the grid, enough to power 30,000 homes. Upon completion the plant will have almost no carbon footprint as the fuel and electricity will be produced from renewable feedstocks.

The Rialto Renewable Energy Center (Rialto Project) is designed to produce about 600 barrels a day of synthetic RenDiesel, which has significantly lower emissions of particulates and other regulated pollutants than ultra-low sulfur diesel and meets targets set by the Lower Carbon Fuel Standard (see earlier post). The primary feedstock for this second-generation biofuel will be urban, woody green waste such as yard clippings, a low-value waste stream relative to first-generation biofuel feedstocks that use food grade crops as feedstocks. The plant will also be able to use biosolids for a portion of the feedstocks, through a supply agreement with EnerTech Environmental. Rentech has reached a licensing agreement with SilvaGas Corporation to use their biomass gasification technology to produce syngas, which is then subjected to the Rentech Process for conversion to RenDiesel.

The Rialto Project production process is similar to that of the BioDME project in Sweden. With California now entering into synthetic fuel production, perhaps production in the state of another synthetic fuel—Blue Fuel/DME—will not be far behind.

California introduces low carbon fuel standards

BLUEFUELENERGY.COM: California has made a significant move to help reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions. The Air Resources Board (ARB) has adopted a regulation that will implement the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The goal of the new regulation is to reduce GHG emissions from transportation by 10% by 2020 and to stimulate the use of alternative fuels.

The following excerpt illustrates the breadth of this regulation: "The LCFS applies to all fuels (with the exception of alternative fuels—other than biofuels—provided by an exempted regulated party for transportation use at an aggregated volume of less than 420 million MJ (3.6 million gasoline gallon equivalent) per year):

• California reformulated gasoline (CARFG)
• California ultra low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD)
• Compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG)
• Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
• Electricity
• Compressed or liquefied hydrogen
• A fuel blend containing ethanol
• A fuel blend containing biomass-based diesel
• Pure denatured ethanol (E100)
• Pure biomass-based diesel (B100)
• Any other liquid or non-liquid fuel."

It appears that, except in small volumes, Blue Fuel would fit into the final category.

According to the ARB's press release: "The regulation requires providers, refiners, importers and blenders to ensure that the fuels they provide for the California market meet an average declining standard of 'carbon intensity'. This is established by determining the sum of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, transportation and consumption of a fuel, also referred to as the fuel pathway."

Opposition to the new regulation has been ongoing but has intensified with its passage. From tar sands producers to biofuel developers, not only is there concern about the carbon intensity of their fuels, there is also worry that the science behind measuring the fuel pathway is still unproven and could result in certain fuels being unfairly penalized. Nonetheless, California is a large and influential market and the producers of all types of fuels—including producers of DME using conventional methods—cannot afford to ignore this further indication of the approach of the low carbon future.