Branching Out: Aemetis’ Refinery Will Produce Renewable Diesel and Renewable Jet Fuel from Almond Orchard and Forest Wood Waste

by Matt Thompson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Aemetis’ refinery will produce renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel from almond orchard and forest wood waste, which will also yield a negative carbon sugar source for ethanol. The Keyes, California, plant is also ditching fossil-based power.

Eric McAfee, CEO of Aemetis, says the markets for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel are strong. The diesel market—and by association, the renewable diesel buildout—continued to gain momentum during the pandemic, with brisk trucking volume tied to the booming and irreversible phenomenon of consumer goods home delivery. “Renewable diesel is in high demand. Aviation fuels likewise,” he says. “It’s a 79 billion gallon market worldwide.”

And that’s good news for the company, as progress on its Carbon Zero One plant, a renewable diesel and SAF (i.e., biojet fuel) refinery continues. “We already announced the engineering for the process phase, and the engineer for the construction phase is next,” McAfee says, explaining that engineering and permitting work will continue as project financing is finalized before construction. “We’re at the end of the development phase.”

The plant will use almond orchard waste, as well as forest waste wood, from California, which McAfee says will help keep the plant’s carbon intensity (CI) score low. The unique feedstock also ends up being a benefit for Aemetis’ corn ethanol plant in Keyes, California, as sugar from the renewable diesel plant’s waste wood will be extracted for use in producing ethanol.

And the benefits aren’t just financial, McAfee says. “By providing an alternative use for waste wood and, ultimately, eliminating field burning of the 3 billion pounds per year of waste orchard wood in California’s Central Valley, we plan to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution while displacing carbon intensive feedstock with negative carbon-intensity feedstock for the production of renewable jet and diesel fuel,” he says.

(E)lectricity will be generated from on-site solar in conjunction with grid electricity from hydroelectric power.

“Eighty-five percent becomes electricity and 15 percent becomes biogas, which has a negative 426 CI score. All of our energy will be a zero CI, very low carbon intensity grid electricity from hydroelectric, or negative 426 CI biogas.”

Zero Carbon Financing
The projects were funded, in part, by grants from the California Energy Commission’s Low Carbon Fuel Production program, which according to Hannon Rasool, the deputy director of the California Energy Commission’s Fuels and Transportation Division, “supports new and expanded renewable, ultra-low carbon transportation fuel production at advanced fuel production facilities, and helps the California fuel industry, vehicle manufacturers and operators work towards a low-carbon future. Funding for these projects came from the California Climate Investments program funded by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.”

McAfee adds, “I think if the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulatory policy is adopted nationwide, which is a trend that’s definitely starting to develop, then we can see pretty much every ethanol plant in the United States adopt low-carbon production techniques.” READ MORE