U.S. capacity to produce biofuels increased 7% in 2023

Capacity to produce biofuels increased 7% in the U.S. during 2023, reaching 24 Bgal/yr at the start of 2024, led by a 44% increase in a category the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) calls “renewable diesel and other biofuels, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

” Other biofuels includes renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel [also known as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)], and renewable naphtha and gasoline. Given continued state and federal tax incentives, regulatory policies, plant expansions, and projected new plant construction, the EIA expects U.S. biofuels production capacity to continue increasing.

Capacity gains by fuel. Capacity at U.S. producers of renewable diesel and other biofuels totaled 4.3 Bgal/yr in January 2024, 1.3 Bgal/yr more than in 2023. Fuel ethanol—primarily produced from corn kernel starch and blended with gasoline—accounts for most of U.S. biofuels production capacity. U.S. fuel ethanol production capacity increased about 2% between January 2023 and January 2024, reaching 18 Bgal/yr. U.S. biodiesel production capacity stayed essentially flat, totaling 2.1 Bgal/yr in January 2024.

Biofuel production capacity by state. Most U.S. biofuels production capacity is located in Iowa, with more than 5.4 Bgal/yr. Fourteen states located largely in the Midwest, the Gulf Coast and the West Coast regions account for 90% of U.S. biofuels production capacity.

In January 2024, biofuels producers in 22 states reported adding renewable diesel and other biofuels capacity, compared with 17 states in 2023. New plants started producing renewable diesel and other biofuels in Alabama, California, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Louisiana in the Gulf Coast region and California in the West Coast region each have more than 1 Bgal of renewable diesel and other biofuels production capacity. These two regions represent more than 80% of U.S. renewable diesel and other biofuels production capacity.

Biodiesel capacity increased by 3.8 MMgal/yr between January 2023 and January 2024. Even though there were new reporting plants, located in Florida and Kentucky, there were also plant closures in Georgia, Iowa, Oregon and South Carolina.

Fuel ethanol production capacity. Fuel ethanol production capacity increased by 2% in the U.S. between January 2023 and January 2024. The Midwestern states of Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, South Dakota, Minnesota and Indiana each have more than 1.4 Bgal of fuel ethanol production capacity. This Midwest region has considerable corn production, which is the primary feedstock for fuel ethanol production.

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Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd. announced it has obtained the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Supply Chain Certification for its subsidiary, Sanyo Kasei (Thailand) Ltd (SKT), as per Chemweek.

The company said palm oil, derived from the fruit of oil palm tree, is the most widely produced and utilized vegetable oil globally. However, large-scale oil palm plantation development has led to significant environmental destruction and human rights violations due to poor working conditions in some regions, it added. The RSPO certification is the international certification system, aim to address these issues and to promote sustainable palm oil production and utilization that respects biodiversity and conserves forests, said Sanyo Chemical.

Sanyo Chemical joined the RSPO in 2013 and obtained RSPO certification for Sanyo Chemical’s domestic plants at Nagoya, Kashima and Kyoto, in 2023.

With the certification for SKT, Sanyo Chemical said it has start procuring and using raw materials derived from RSPO-certified palm oil for some surfactants for cosmetics produced by SKT, which are in high demand for use of RSPO-certified palm oil.

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Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. (Kiyosu, Japan) is doubling its rubber recycling capacity at Morimachi, Japan, site, to accelerate the recycling of rubber used in automobiles, said Chemweek.

A second line is now being put into operation that will double the rubber recycling capacity to 1,200 metric tons per year. The new line is scheduled to start mass production in 2025.

The company said new line incorporates improved technology to raise the quality of the recycled rubber. “This can increase the percentage of recycled material mixed into new material from several percent up to 20%.”

The recycled rubber will also be applied in other products using the same type of synthetic rubber ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) as the waste material, it added. The company further aims to establish a recycling system that recovers rubber from end-of-life vehicles.

Toyoda Gosei produces plastic and rubber automotive parts.

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Taiwan’s state-owned CPC Corp. restarted a naphtha cracker at Linyuan, Taiwan, on Oct. 18, with plans to ramp up the plant’s operating rate to 100%, said Chemweek.

The plant can produce 720,000 metric tons per year of ethylene, 335,000 metric tons per year of propylene and 102,000 metric tons per year of butadiene.

The unit was shut down on Oct. 4 after Typhoon Krathon hit Taiwan’s west coast in late September.
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China’s Zhejiang Xingxing New Energy Chemical took its 690,000 metric tons per year methanol-to-olefins plant in Zhejiang offline on Oct. 18 due to technical issues, said Chemweek.

The MTO plant is expected to be down for seven to 10 days while works are made to rectify the problem, the source added.

The plant can produce 300,000 metric tons per year ethylene and 390,000 metric tons per year propylene. It consumes around 150,000-170,000 metric tons per month of methanol feedstock and produces 50,000-57,000 metric tons per month of olefins.

We remind, Guangxi Changke New Material has announced a project to expand its existing ABS production capacity by 2025. And the largest of the announced projects, the Zhejiang Petrochemical Daishan plant in Zhejiang, with a capacity of 1.2 million tons of ABS per year, is scheduled to be launched in 2027.

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