Shell to Convert Convent Site to Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Renewable Diesel Production Facility
by Robert Stewart (The Advocate) Shell intends to build a sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel production facility at its shuttered Convent refinery, according to documents filed with Louisiana Economic Development.
Shell acknowledged in February that it planned to convert the old Convent site into an alternative fuels complex, though details were scarce at the time. However, the company on Monday filed requests with LED for a pair of state tax breaks — the Industrial Tax Exemption Program and Quality Jobs — that shed more light on potential plans for the plant. ITEP is a property tax break, while Quality Jobs offers rebates for creating new jobs.
Shell plans to use a “third-party proprietary alcohol-to-jet technology” at Convent that would transform ethanol into low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel, according to LED records. The facility would source sugarcane ethanol as a primary feedstock while also having the capacity to turn corn ethanol into low-carbon fuels.
New equipment for the site will include reactors, heat exchangers, compressors, pumps and more. It will use existing pipelines and utilities.
Shell estimates construction would start in February 2025 and would finish by March 2028, assuming all goes to plan. READ MORE
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Excerpt from Biobased Diesel Daily: The Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry approved applications Aug. 24 submitted by Equilon Enterprises doing business as Shell Oil Products US for significant tax relief on a $1.5 billion project to construct a new renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant within Shell’s shuttered Convent, Louisiana, refinery, according to documents obtained by Biobased Diesel Daily and communications with Louisiana Economic Development staff.
The project will utilize Shell’s proprietary process technology and include a new feedstock-pretreatment unit.
The project site straddles the boundary of St. James and Ascension parishes, so a separate application was required for each local jurisdiction.
The major processing units of the project will be constructed in St. James Parish, according to the documents, and the equipment needed includes piping, instrumentation, tanks, pumps, reactors, furnaces, exchangers and towers.
Rail logistics for feedstock unloading will be added in Ascension Parish, according to the documents. These items include rail spurs, unloading arms, meters, pumps and instrumentation.
“Integrating other processes into the HEFA (hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids) production process can reduce the amount of carbon in the final fuel even further,” Shell wrote in its application.
The project start and end dates are listed as October 2024 and April 2027, respectively.
Tax relief would amount to $19 million in the first year alone.
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Although the state commerce and industry board has approved the tax-abatement applications, they next require approval of local taxing authorities—St. James and Ascension parishes—before LED will issue contracts.
The effective date of the pending tax-abatement contract is Dec. 31, 2027, through Dec. 31, 2032.
Shell closed the Convent refinery in November 2020. READ MORE
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