Current and Future California SAF Pathways & Supply

by Chuck Sorenson (Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biiofuels Digest) ... AltAir Paramount LLC was the first company to bring California-produced renewable fuels at scale to the California market. They purchased the former Paramount Oil refinery near Los Angeles in 2013 and converted it from a 50,000 barrel per stream day (BPSD) topping/HDS asphalt and hydrotreated diesel producer into a renewable fuel facility. It has the capability now to produce over 40 million gal/yr (MM) of renewable naphtha, jet/kerosene, and diesel fuels using non-edible vegetable oil and animal fat feedstock (e.g. beef tallow).

In 2016 AltAir started supplying United Airlines at the Los Angeles Airport (LAX) with a 30/70 blend of HEFA/petroleum kero based jet fuel for limited flights between LAX and San Francisco (SFO). Renewable and petro-kerosene blending and jet additizing is done at the Paramount facility and finished SAF jet fuel is delivered to LAX by tanker truck. United and AltAir entered into a supply agreement for at least 5 MM gal/yr for three years with options to purchase more. For perspective, 5 MM gal/yr and 30% renewable content represents less than 0.1% of United Airlines annual fuel consumption which was almost 4 billion gallons in 2019.

In 2018 AltAir was acquired by World Energy and they have begun working on an expansion plan to go from today’s 3,500 BPSD production volume to 25,000 BPSD.

SAF implementation is also being advanced at the San Francisco airport. SAF is being supplied today to SFO by Neste Oil. They produce HEFA-SPK type renewable kerosene from vegetable oil and animal fats at their Poorvo Refinery in Finland. In the summer of 2021, Neste and Signature Flight Services entered into a supply agreement whereby Signature would buy up to 5 million gallons per year of renewable kerosene to make a 30% blended SAF fuel. Of the 5 million total, 3 million is expected to go to SFO and the remainder to the UK or Europe. At 30% blend volume, the amount of finished jet fuel delivered to SFO would be 10 million gallons per year.

Jet fuel delivery includes refinery-to-airport, and marine-based terminal-to-airport pipelines. To facilitate delivery of the relatively large volumes of SAF, Neste is engaged with NuStar Energy L.P. who owns the Selby Fuel Terminal near San Francisco. The terminal includes a dock to accept large tankers and barges, almost two dozen storage tanks of various sizes, pipeline connection to oil refineries and connection to SFO airport via a pipeline owned and operated by Kinder Morgan.

Neste ships renewable kerosene to the Houston where it is blended with petroleum to make a nominal 30 or 35% SAF blend. The finished jet fuel is then shipped to San Francisco by marine tanker ships. The fuel is off-loaded into NuStar’s tanks and then transported by pipeline to SFO. It is our understanding that the product is not segregated inside SFO’s fuel terminal, but rather co-mingled with 100% petroleum jet fuels present in the tank farm. An accounting method is apparently used by customers to pay for and take credit for the CO2 reductions that result from SAF use.

In March 2022, Neste and Marathon Oil announced a 50/50 joint venture partnership to convert Marathon’s Martinez California refinery into a renewable fuels facility capable of making 365 MM gal/yr of renewable fuels initially.

Refinery feedstocks will include rendered fats, fish oils, soybean and corn oil, used cooking and vegetable oils, but exclude palm oil. Existing marine terminals will be used for feedstock delivery. The refinery is connected to SFO via the Kinder Morgan product pipeline. READ MORE