Exploring SAF Feedstock Markets

October 12, 2023

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by Katie Schroeder (Biomass Magazine) ... Trip Jobe, vice president of sales with ResourceWise’s Forest Value Chain, explained the importance of doing a feedstock availability assessment to better understand the market dynamics around feedstocks SAF producers may be interested in utilizing. The company’s resource studies evaluate risk by examining a feedstock’s availability, market dynamics, government regulations and incentives, and sustainability impacts. Jobe discussed risk dynamics within SAF projects and explained how feedstock resource assessments help mitigate risk for both investors and developers, contributing to the site’s long-term success.

According to ResourceWise, an estimated 1 billion dry tons of biomass can be collected sustainably each year in the U.S., enough to produce 50 to 60 billion gallons of low-carbon biofuels. These resources include corn grain, oil seeds, algae and other fats, oils and greases, ag and forestry residues, wood mill waste, municipal solid waste streams, wet wastes like manure and wastewater treatment sludge, and dedicated energy crops. The largest, Jobe said, is forestry resources, as there are approximately 1.4 trillion live trees on more than 635 million acres of forestland in the continental U.S.

Feedstock availability is an important consideration for developers who are exploring a SAF project. No singular feedstock is going to be able to supply the entire volume of SAF needed, Jobe emphasized.

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Sustainability is the another element of feedstock risk Jobe discussed. Many companies are pursuing decarbonization but have started to move away from using carbon credits and offsets to meet their net zero goals, and are instead developing their own projects.

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Jobe shared a case study of USA BioEnergy in Bon Weir, Texas, in which Forest2Market assessed the availability and sustainability of feedstock supply both currently and in the future.

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Other aspects considered include feedstock availability, price forecast and related projections.

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Lipids of a variety of types are currently being used for SAF production. Ryan Standard, managing editor of Americas with Fastmarkets, provided a snapshot of current lipids markets in the U.S. and outlined the limitations of various lipids as feedstocks for SAF. The feedstocks discussed included tallow, used cooking oil (UCO), yellow grease, distillers corn oil (DCO) and soybean oil.

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The total lipid feedstock capacity is not capable of meeting SAF production goals on its own. One factor is competition with the renewable diesel and biodiesel industries, which both need a significant volume of these feedstocks and are growing rapidly.

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“If you take every single pound of rendered fat, used cooking oil and distillers corn oil, it’s not even close enough to fuel the current capacity in the market,” Standard said.

Domestic supply is unable to satisfy market demand for low-carbon feedstocks, so producers have begun looking abroad, importing the needed capacity from around the world.

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Low-carbon lipids such as tallow and UCO are waste products; therefore, the supply of them is unable to drastically increase.

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Alternative feedstocks such as corn stover and camelina, alongside ethanol, are the path forward for expanding the industry, Standard said. READ MORE

US shifts to net soybean oil importer on biofuel boom: Foreign Agricultural Service (S&P Global)

DEMAND FOR SOY-BASED BIOFUELS INCREASING, ISA SAYS (Brownfield Ag News)

Dreyfus to Build Ohio Soy Plant to Capitalize on Renewable Diesel Boom: Plant to cost $500 million; construction set to begin in 2024; Move comes as demand for soybean oil has surged for biofuel (Bloomberg)

The Fuel of the Future May Rely on Developing Oilier Soybeans: Modified beans that produce more oil could satisfy the need for renewable diesel without having to dedicate as much land to growing them. (Bloomberg)

Focus: As biofuels boom, companies retool oilseeds to crack new markets (Reuters)

Excerpt from Brownfield Ag News: The president-elect of the Iowa Soybean Association says biofuels can help the country meet emissions reduction targets.

Brent Swart tells Brownfield biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel will be a top priority for the state’s soybean growers in 2024. “The neat part about that industry is that we’re not only growing a sustainable product here in the state, but a product that can grow our domestic demand and maybe not make us so reliant on some of our trading partners.”

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ISA says soybean oil made up 71% of total feedstock used in biodiesel production last year, providing a market for oil from nearly 162 million bushels of Iowa soybeans. READ MORE

Tags

yellow grease water treatment wastewater used cooking oil (UCO) Uruguay tallow Sweden Sustainability soybeans sludge oil seed crops New Zealand MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) markets/sales market forces manure Lipid Jetfuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)) import/export forest residue/waste FOG (Fats/Oils/Grease) Feedstocks energy crops corn/maize corn oil/distillers corn oil (DCO) China Canada Brazil BioRefineries/Renewable Fuel Production Biofuel Crops Aviation Fuel/Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Australia animal fat algae Agricultural waste/residue

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