Against the Odds

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) Continued investment and expansion took place in the U.S. biodiesel sector throughout 2017, despite rising political uncertainty and a lapsed tax credit. Here is an overview of some of the activity, plus a special sidebar story from Joe Jobe.

As 2017 dawned with another expired biodiesel tax credit—the fifth lapse in seven years—and a new, inexperienced administration, it was unclear what sort of year the U.S. biodiesel industry would have. Biodiesel imports in 2016 were pouring in to the tune of nearly 700 million gallons, mostly from Argentina, and renewable diesel imports topped 220 million gallons. Was the biodiesel renaissance of 2016 over? Not exactly.

But the biodiesel lobby and its political champions were able to quell the proposed cuts from a new oil-friendly EPA administrator, if only to take solace in a stalled biomass-based diesel standard next year at 2.1 billion gallons and a 10 million gallon increase in the advanced category this year.

Though the RFS will see no growth for biodiesel in 2019, the National Biodiesel Board Fair Trade Coalition has been successful in its antidumping and antisubsidy trade cases against Argentina and Indonesia with imposition of hefty duties by the U.S. Department of Commerce on imports from those two countries. And while the antidumping case is still ongoing, the measures will free up more than 500 million gallons of marketspace taken in 2016 by imports from those two major biodiesel exporters.

After New Haven was completed, Crimson rehired BDI to build a new plant in Bakersfield to run alongside its existing plant, featuring BDI’s RepCat technology, a patented system for low-quality feedstock with high FFA employing a recyclable catalyst. The new plant will process greasy waste from metropolitan areas in California. BDI says this will be the first plant of its kind in the U.S. Hermann Stockinger, BDI’s vice president of sales, tells Biodiesel Magazine the RepCat plant will add another 12 MMgy to the existing 24 MMgy of capacity at Crimson. Completion is scheduled for mid-2019.

In Erie, Pennsylvania, American Biodiesel Energy started selling product again in early 2017 after a long hiatus. Plant manager Chase Akerly says the company was incorporated by his grandfather 10 years ago and started operating a traditional biodiesel process. After a 2011 fire, the company rebuilt but was unsuccessful. Akerly says he began testing enzymatic processing with Novozymes three years ago. “Then, 18 months ago we took the enzymatic process to 10,000-gallon tanks,” he says. “We were working with brown grease and other high-FFA material, and we had great success with used cooking oil, but we like reacting lower-quality, higher-FFA feedstock.”

In Geismar, Louisiana, REG completed a $20 million acquisition of 82 acres around its 75 MMgy renewable diesel plant from Lion Copolymer. REG is exploring expansion in Geismar by an additional 37 MMgy through upgrades and another 10 MMgy through new equipment. REG is also evaluating a number of other sites for expansion of renewable diesel production capacity, including Seneca, Illinois, and Grays Harbor, Washington.

Finally, East Kansas Agri-Energy LLC has completed its 4.5 MMgy renewable diesel plant co-located with its ethanol refinery in Garnett, Kansas, a company official tells Biodiesel Magazine. EKAE has been quiet about the development as it tweaks the process for this first-of-a-kind project. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: The biodiesel producers' credit supported by Sen. Chuck Grassley and some Midwestern senators still has life. Orrin Hatch's tax extenders bill revives the credit for blenders of biodiesel, but the Finance committee members are still considering moving it to a producers credit, according to Derek Theurer, an aide to Bill Cassidy who was only speaking at a Jones Day tax conference Thursday. "There's members on the Senate side that have views both ways. Some that would like to move to producers' credits, others that are concerned about impact on consumers, the price of fuel," he said. "That's the kind of competing interests being weighed and members are continuing to discuss it." READ MORE