UOP, a Honeywell company, says its UOP/Eni Ecofining process technology is powering the largest commercial advanced biofuel facility in the US, capable of producing more than 130 million gallons of renewable diesel per year.
The Diamond Green Diesel facility in Norco, La., converts inedible oils and other waste feedstocks to produce high-quality renewable diesel, also known as Honeywell Green Diesel. Unlike biodiesel, renewable diesel produced using the UOP process is chemically identical to petroleum-based diesel and can be used as a drop-in replacement in vehicles with no modifications.
Renewable diesel produced using the Ecofining process also has up to an 80 percent lifecycle reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with diesel from petroleum, Honeywell says.
The facility is a joint venture of Darling International and Diamond Alternative Energy, a subsidiary of Valero Energy.
Fuel produced at the facility is designed to meet the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard. The Diamond Green Diesel facility will produce more than 200 million ethanol-equivalent-gallons per year of biomass-based diesel as defined under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
In addition to Ecofining technology, the company has commercialized the UOP Renewable Jet Fuel Process, which was originally developed under a contract with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to produce renewable jet fuel for the US military. Honeywell Green Jet Fuel produced by this process technology can be blended seamlessly with petroleum-based fuel. When used in up to a 50 percent blend with petroleum-based jet fuel, Honeywell Green Jet Fuel requires no changes to aircraft technology and meets all critical specifications for flight.
Also this week Joule said its Sunflow-D and Sunflow-J CO2-neutral fuels meet the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for diesel and jet fuel, respectively, marking another step toward commercial readiness of its CO2-derived hydrocarbon fuels.