Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) Biorefineries – The rise of renewable diesel

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Publication date: 17/9/2015.
Last update: 17/11/2019.
Section: ADVANCED BIOFUELS
Series: HVO
- Hydrotreating(HVO) – Concepts, feedstocks and specifications
- Hydrotreating(HVO) – Advantages over FAME and properties
- Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) Biorefineries – The rise of renewable diesel
- Posts: HVO

Technologies

Company
Technology
Axens
Colabitoil
-
ENI and Honeywell UOP
Haldor Topsoe
Neste
REG
BioSynfining
Ryze Renewables
-
UPM Biofuels
Other: ConocoPhillips, BP, PetroBras and Nippon Oil
Used for co-processing or at low-scale


Figure 1. HVO biorefinery of Neste in Singapore (extracted from Neste web page)

Operational HVO biorefineries

Location
Owner
Technology
Production capacity
(Mtons/year)
Start-up
Kilpilahti, Porvoo (Finland)
Neste
NEXBTL
2 x 0.35
1st unit: 2007.
2nd unit: 2009.
Tuas Industrial Area, Singapore (Singapore)
Neste
NEXBTL
1
2010
Geismar, Louisiana (USA)
REG
BioSynfining
0.25
2010
Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Neste
NEXBTL
1
2011
Norco, Louisiana (USA)
Diamond Green Diesel
Ecofining
0.88
2013
Porto Marghera, Venice (Italy)
ENI
Ecofining (revamping of a petroleum refinery)
0.36
June 2014
Lappeenranta (Finland)
UPM Biofuels 
UPM BioVerno
0.1
January 2015
Paramount, California (USA)
World Energy
Ecofining (revamping of a petroleum refinery)
0.13
Early 2016
La Mède (France)
Total
Vegan (revamping of a petroleum refinery)
0.5
June 2019
Gela (Italy)
ENI
Ecofining (revamping of a petroleum refinery)
0.75
August 2019
Portugal
Belem Bioenergia (Petrobras and Galp) [Note 1]
HBIO (developed by Petrobras)
0.27
?
China
Sinopec [Note 1]
-
0.02
?
TOTAL CAPACITY
5.29
(5.58)
[Note 1] There is a lack of reliable sources of information about this facility.
[Note 2] Three Chinese companies (Yangzhou Jianyuan Biotechnology Co Ltd; ECO Biochemical Technology Co Ltd; Hainan Huanyu New Energy Co Ltd) have been certified as producing HVO diesel which meets the EU biofuel standards set out in the Renewable Energy Directive. No information available about their facilities and production capacities.
[Note 3] Pilot and experimental facilities have not been taken into account to prepare this table.
              
Operational plants co-processing HVO

Location
Owner
Production capacity
(Mtons/year)
Spain
Cepsa (several refineries)
Repsol (several refineries)
0.38 [Note 1]
Gothenburg (Sweden)
Preem
0.17
Sines (Portugal)
Galp
0.04
TOTAL CAPACITY
0.59
[Note 1] Certifiable total production of HVO in Spain in 2018. Data taken from the statistical report of the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia.

HVO biorefineries under construction and planned

Location
Owner
Technology
Production capacity
(Mtons/year)
Status
Plaquemine, Louisiana (USA)
Emerald Biofuels [Note 1]
Ecofining
0.28
Project announced in 2012 but its possible completion date is now unknown.
Fujairah (UAE)
Petrixo [Note 1]
Ecofining
0.5
In 2015, it was announced the expected start-up by 2017 but it seems that the works have not yet started.
Lawrence County, Ohio (USA)
SG Preston [Note 1]
Ecofining
0.4
Project announced in 2014 but its possible completion date is now unknown.
Reno, Nevada (USA)
Ryze Renewables
- (revamping of an existing unit)
0.15
Under construction.
Las Vegas, Nevada (USA)
Ryze Renewables
- (revamping of an existing unit)
0.30
Under construction.
Caparroso (Navarre, Spain)
Extracte Lur
- (revamping of an existing unit)
0.04
Under construction.
Dickinson, North Dakota (USA)
Andeavor
Hydroflex (revamping of an existing unit)
0.15 [Note 2]
Under construction.
Late 2020.
Port Westward Industrial Park, Oregon (USA)
NEXT Renewable Fuels
Ecofining
1.5
Planned.
2021.
Adjacent to the Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery in Washington state (USA)
Phillips 66 and REG
BioSynfining
0.25 [Note 3]
Planned.
2021.
Gothenburg (Sweden)
St1
Ecofining
0.2
Planned.
2022.
Banks of the Paraguay River (Paraguay)
ECB Group (Omega Green Project)
Ecofining
0.8
Planned.
2022.
Delfzijl (Netherlands).
KLM, SkyNRG and SHV (DSL-01 project)
Hydroflex
0.1
Planned.
2022.
Refinery in the Valle de Escombreras (Murcia, Spain).
Repsol
-
0.25
Planned.
2023.
Germany
Colabitoil
-
1.5
Planned.
2024.
TOTAL CAPACITY
5.24
(6.42)
[Note 1] The status of this project is uncertain.
[Note 2] It is an estimation considering the processing capacity. The production capacity has not been unveiled.
[Note 3] It is an estimation considering the production capacity of the HVO biorefinery which REG owns in Geismar. The production has not been unveiled.

HVO biorefineries expansions

Location
Owner
Technology
Production capacity
(Mtons/year)
Status
Eliminating bottlenecks of the existing biorefineries
Neste
NEXBTL
0.3 + 0.2
Under construction.
1st stage: 2020
2nd stage: 2022.
Gothenburg (Sweden)
Preem
-
0.84
Under construction.
2020.
Porto Marghera, Venice (Italy)
ENI
Ecofining
0.2
Under construction.
2021.
Norco, Louisiana (USA)
Diamond Green Diesel
Ecofining
1.2
Under construction. 
2021.
Tuas Industrial Area, Singapore (Singapore)
Neste
NEXBTL
1.3
Under construction.
2022.
TOTAL CAPACITY
4.04

REFERENCES
1 Neste website: Production.
2 Rotterdam Biorefinery. BioRefineries Blog. 19/8/2015.
3 Neste announces 1,400 M€ investment in Singapore to extend its production capacity. BioRefineries Blog. 12/12/2018.
4 REG website: Geismar.
5 Diamond Green Diesel to expand HVO capacity in Norco using technology from Honeywell UOP. BioRefineries Blog. 20/3/2017.
6 Venice Biorefinery. BioRefineries Blog. 31/8/2015.
7 UPM Biofuels website: UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery.
8 UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery. BioRefineries Blog. 26/2/2015.
9 Commercial-scale biorefinery starts to produce renewable fuels with Honeywell UOP Technology in California. BioRefineries Blog. 12/3/2016.
10 World Energy press release: World Energy announces purchase of Southern California assets from Delek (20/3/2018).
11 Total ready to start-up its HVO biorefinery in La Mède. BioRefineries Blog. 5/6/2019.
12 Eni opens its second HVO biorefinery in Italy. BioRefineries Blog. 12/3/2016.
13 Galp website: Biofuels.
14 Preem renewable transportation fuels production. Presentation, Petter Holland (Preem CEO).
15 Is HVO the Holy Grail of the world biodiesel market? Greenea Team, 2014.
16 New players join the HVO game. Greenea Team, 2017.
17 Ryze Renewables website: Facilities.
18 Extracte Lur will retrofit a former biodiesel plant to produce renewable diesel in Spain. BioRefineries Blog. 8/4/2019.
19 Andeavor to transform the Dickinson Refinery into a renewable diesel biorefinery. BioRefineries Blog. 3/9/2018.
20 NEXT Renewable Fuels secures land in Oregon for its renewable diesel biorefinery. BioRefineries Blog. 26/2/2019.
21 Phillips 66 and Renewable Energy Group plan to build a renewable diesel plant in USA. BioRefineries Blog. 2/11/2018.
22 St1 to build a biorefinery to produce renewable diesel and jet fuel in Sweden. BioRefineries Blog. 26/9/2019.
23 ECB Group will build a renewable diesel biorefinery in Paraguay. BioRefineries Blog. 27/2/2019.
24 KLM, SkyNRG and SHV to build the first European dedicated biorefinery for sustainable aviation fuel. BioRefineries Blog. 29/5/2019.
25 Repsol intends to build a plant to produce 2G biofuels in its Cartagena complex. BioRefineries Blog. 20/5/2019.
26 Colabitoil press release: Colabitoil satsar på förnybar bensin och flygbränsle i Europa (20/12/2018).
27 COWI press release: Preem takes next step towards supplying green fuel (28/6/2019).
28 Diamond Green Diesel to expand again its capacity of renewable diesel using Honeywell UOP’s Ecofining technology. BioRefineries Blog. 5/10/2019.

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