Below Zero: The World’s Largest Renewable Diesel Project — Just Phase One of a 9-Year Journey to a Massive Carbon Negative Park at the Port of Baton Rouge

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... After all, it’s not every day of the week that a 900 million gallons renewable diesel project can be described as “phase one of a much bigger project”, but that’s the story with Fidelis Infrastructure and Gron Fuels’ plan to build, over nine years, a $9.2 billion dollar low carbon industrial park at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge in Louisiana. That’s 60,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel, including a permitted jet fuel option.

The final investment decision date

A final investment decision is expected in 2021, which will determine the final cost of the project’s first phase.

The topline numbers

The first phase of construction would involve a capital investment of over USD 1.25 billion and create 340 new direct jobs by 2024. With expansions and associated projects, the complex could involve up to $9.2 billion of total investment over several phases. A final investment decision is expected in 2021, which will determine the final cost of the project’s first phase.

Through all phases and associated projects, the complex would create an estimated 1,025 new direct jobs, with an average annual salary of $98,595, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project and subsequent phases would result in up to 4,560 new indirect jobs, for a total of 5,585 new jobs for the Capital Region.

The Haldor Topsoe tech at the heart of Phase 1

Grön selected Haldor Topsoe’s HydroFlex renewable fuels and H2bridge bio-hydrogen technologies with bio-carbon capture and sequestration option. Overall, the project has the means to capture some 1 million tons per year of CO2 for carbon sequestration in suitable deep saline aquifers located below the project site.

The design’s competitive edge

The integration of the fully proven H2bridge hydrogen technology with the HydroFlex technology enables Grön Fuels to produce renewable bio-hydrogen equivalent to the production of a 1,000 MW hydrolyser plant at a fraction of the cost. The design flexibility to include bio-carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) to the project is added to pursue negative carbon intensity renewable fuel production.

Bio-hydrogen not utilized for renewable diesel production will be made available by Grön Fuels for purchase by third parties for lowering the CO2 emissions of power production, industrial processes, or transportation and can be shipped by the ~600 miles / 1,000 km of hydrogen pipelines operational and located near Grön Fuels’ site.

The project is banking on the expansion of low carbon standards that reward developers for pushing down the carbon as far as possible, even into carbon-negative territory. Without those standards, there’s nothing to sell except the energy attributes and, frankly, its cheaper to produce a high-pollution fuel than a low-pollution one. It’s really up to society to finally decide what it wants, “safe skies or cheap energy” is one way of putting it. The project is also banking on investors and lenders to see that the rewards outweigh the risks and that there will be enough demand in the marketplace to support massive projects such as these.

Will every renewable diesel project that’s been announced be actually built? Probably not. What makes this one special, the push towards low carbon raises the potential value of the fuels, giving this project a conceptual margin edge. Take for example how this project will utilize heat off hydrotreater to make the plant more energy efficient and carbon efficient — with strategies such as using that heat to keep feedstock oils warm and liquid before the hydrotreating step so that the feedstock flow efficiently. Or, using low-carbon plant oils grown from lower-carbon varietals, or capturing CO2 from oilseed crushers.

There’s real circularity in this industrial park, which reminds us that sometimes, to move along as fast as possible towards a low-carbon future, we have to travel in circles. READ MORE