(Credit: Pixabay)World Energy received a $2 million grant toward its project to increase low carbon fuel production and shift truck deliveries to rail, which in turn will help drive down emissions.
The grant from the California Energy Commission will aid World Energy’s project that will see its biodiesel delivered by existing rail infrastructure. The renewable diesel is produced at the company’s Paramount, California, facility and will be blended with biodiesel on-site.
World Energy says the project will increase the efficiencies of its blending capabilities and will help it deliver at least 156 million gallons of blended renewable diesel and biodiesel in California by 2024. Using rail to deliver the fuel will keep thousands of fuel tanker trucks off the roads, also reducing emissions.
The California Energy Commission says the project will help increase low carbon fuel blending in the state and will help play an important role in decarbonizing emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which are more difficult to transition to other efficient means like electrification.
Biodiesel can be blended and used in a variety of concentrations, according to the Department of Energy. Pure biodiesel is typically used as a blendstock and is rarely used as a transportation fuel.
The DOE has found that emissions for biodiesel can be 74% lower than petroleum diesel. Other technologies to use biofuels, such as an engine system that allows heavy-duty trucks to use ethanol, have been found to cut emissions of the life of a heavy-duty truck by 42% compared with using diesel.
As heavy-duty trucks continue to find ways to transition to more energy efficient and emissions friendly methods, using rail to transport the fuel is among the most sustainable methods. According to the EPA, freight railroads account for 0.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the US and less than 2% of transportation related emissions. A recent report by Fitch found that rail is best situated against climate risk in the industry.
Last year World Energy received a $1.5 million grant from the USDA for the project and that money went toward installing safety infrastructure, piping and upgraded biodiesel equipment. The company, which is also a big player in sustainable aviation fuel, says its biofuels accounted for a reduction of nearly 481,000 metric tons of carbon in 2020.
