Advanced BioFuels USA

by Shin Ha-Nee (Reuters) Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Confectionery signed a deal to produce biodiesel using disposed oil, the oil refiner said Monday. Through the deal, Lotte Confectionery will supply by-products made during the food manufacturing process, which are mostly used cooking oil, to Hyundai Oilbank, and the oil refining company will utilize those as feedstock for biodiesel.
 
Hyundai Oilbank is building a 10,000-square-meter (107,639-square-foot) biodiesel production facility at its Daesan plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong, the first stage of the oil refiner’s biofuel business. The new biodiesel production plant will be completed by 2023, with an annual production capacity of 130,000 tons, according to the company.

Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Confectionery are also considering establishing a joint venture for overseas expansion and raw material procurement, while planning to broaden their cooperation to various areas outside feedstock procurement.  READ MORE

Lotte Confectionary, Hyundai Oilbank team up for biodiesel business  (Yonhap News Agency)

Hyundai Oilbank partners with Lotte Confectionery to use food byproducts for biodiesel production (Aju Business Daily)

Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte ink biodiesel deal (Biofuels International)

Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank secures UCO for biodiesel plant (Argus Media)

Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Confectionery sign biodiesel deal (Korea JoongAng Daily)

Excerpt from Aju Business Daily:  Along with blue hydrogen as well as eco-friendly chemicals and materials, Hyundai Oilbank is promoting “white bio” as a new growth engine by utilizing non-food resources such as oil dregs, waste cooking oil, and fallen palm fruits as raw materials.

The bio Industry creates added value based on biotechnology by combining industrial technologies. White bio refers to replacing materials from the chemicals industry with renewables such as plants, microorganisms, and enzymes. 

The existing bio industry generally uses edible resources such as soybeans, corn, and farms, but advanced countries are strengthening regulations on the use of food materials due to side effects such as forest destruction. Hyundai Oilbank will apply a supercritical method using high temperature and high-pressure conditions instead of catalysts. The method is environmentally friendly and cost-efficient because few harmful substances are generated, and pre-treatment processes are unnecessary.

By 2024, the refiner will convert some facilities in Daesan into the production of 500,000 tons of hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), which is based on the hydrocracking or hydrogenation of vegetable oil. Hydrocracking breaks big molecules into smaller ones using hydrogen while hydrogenation adds hydrogen to molecules. Such methods can be used to create substitutes for chemical feedstock. Diesel fuel created by hydrotreating is called green diesel.

Hyundai Oilbank will use HVO for the production of next-generation bio jet aircraft fuel and consider building a white biomanufacturing plant in South Korea or other countries such as Indonesia. In November 2021, Hyundai Oilbank partnered with Haldor Topsoe, a Danish company specializing in carbon reduction technologies, to push for the development of renewable synthetic fuels, known as e-fuels, which are carbon neutral and can allow vehicles, airplanes and ships to operate in a climate-friendly manner.  READ MORE