Webinar: Replacing the Whole Barrel: An Overview of Sustainable and Renewable Biofuels and the Emerging Bioeconomy

by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) Dr. Arti Gaur of Parul University in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, invited Advanced Biofuels USA to present the latest about replacing the whole barrel of petroleum with renewable fuels and chemicals.

The presentation includes an introduction to how renewable fuels are made and used, feedstocks and conversion technologies being used to make renewable fuels now and those undergoing research with a focus on the leadership provided by companies and government in India, particularly Praj.

Emphasis is on the need to replace not only the fuels that are made from the barrel of oil, but also the high value chemicals. You can ask yourself, if we continue to rely on petroleum for chemical building blocks of the materials in our lives and only have substitutes for the parts of the barrel that make fuel, what will be done with what becomes low value residues? It's not a pretty picture. This presentation explores how we can transition to bio- and waste-based refineries that enable us to keep the whole barre's worth of petroleum in deep underground storage.

The presentation also includes lists of jobs and career opportunities at every step of the supply chains and value chains. The presentation also touches on some policy issues related to transitioning to renewable fuels and recycled and sequestered carbon.

This recorded presentation and supporting materials are available online. The presentation can be viewed on Facebook.

A PDF of the presentation slides includes much of the text of the presentation along with some links to references and citations. The complete presentation is available here. From this presentation, you can access all links in the notes section.

Sincere thanks to Dr. Gaur and Parul University for the opportunity to share these resources with a wide international audience.

Contact Joanne Ivancic at info@advancedbiofuelsusa.org for information about presentations tailored for your audience. WATCH PRESENTATION

Excerpt from E&E News Energywire: The International Energy Agency forecasts that petrochemicals are set to account for more than a third of growth in oil demand through 2030 and more than half starting in 2050 — ahead of diesel fuel for trucks and aviation and shipping fuel. They could consume an additional 56 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually by 2030 — an amount equivalent to about half of Canada’s total gas consumption today, according to the agency.

“I would say that really if we look globally, petrochemicals are becoming the largest driver of global oil demand,” said Kate Hardin, executive director of Deloitte’s Research Center for Energy and Industrials.

The projected growth not only could affect emissions, but could offer the oil industry a lifeline at a time when climate policies, a shift to electric vehicles, investor pressure and declining refinery capacity are expected to increasingly strain the sector. The current push for clean energy is helping petrochemical growth by relying on plastics and polymers used in technology such as wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicle parts.

Environmental groups say that trading gasoline for petrochemicals will do little to help the environment.

The production of petrochemicals like ethylene, olefins, propylene, acetylene, methanol and ethane has led to the release of toxic emisions in nearby communities and prolongs oil production and its environmental consequences, they say.

Since then, they have seeped into almost every facet of modern life. Along with plastics, they are used to make clothing, plastics, adhesives, lubricants, paints, fertilizers, food preservatives and digital devices. Twelve percent of global oil demand came from the petrochemical sector in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency. By 2050, it could capture 55 percent of crude oil demand.

They are already among oil companies’ biggest moneymakers. Vetter (Tanya Vetter, vice president of strategy and planning for ExxonMobil Product Solutions) with Exxon said the “higher-value” petrochemical products — like polyethylene and propylene used in plastics — account for about 40 percent of the company’s downstream earnings.

“For petrochemicals, it’s full steam ahead, but it’s based on a changing landscape,” Yankovitz (David Yankovitz, a principal and chemical practice leader with Deloitte) said. “It is fossil fuel-based chemicals, that’s part of it, but there’s going to be new technologies around bio-industrial technologies like, as an example, advanced recycling.”

Bioethylene, which is being eyed for some of the same applications as ethylene, can be made from sugar cane instead of oil, for example. Occidental Petroleum announced in 2021 it would construct a pilot project with Houston-based startup Cemvita Factory to make bioethylene out of carbon dioxide, water and light.

But many petrochemical alternatives are not widespread in the market and can cost more to produce than fossil fuel options. Biopolymers, an alternative to some petrochemicals, make up just 1 percent of global production of plastics, according to 2022 data from trade group European Bioplastics.

Although the Biden administration issued an executive order setting a goal of replacing 90 percent of U.S. plastics with biomaterials over the next two decades, the high cost of production remains a barrier, according to a 2021 analysis by S&P Global. That likely means petrochemicals will remain dominant for many years in an industry that relies on them as a feedstock....

The company (Exxon) can use the same feedstock — crude — to make both fuels and petrochemicals, and can switch between the two easily. If the market margins for refining are higher, it can refine, but if the market swings and certain petrochemicals are in higher demand, it can redirect the feedstock and begin producing more chemicals....

“These are highly polluting facilities that still incentivize and require fracking and other toxic ways of extracting oil and gas, dangerous and polluting pipelines, and contribute to climate change,” Grenter (Patrick Grenter, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign) said. READ MORE