(25d) Preliminary Assessment of Potential Bio-Based Oil Insertions to US Refineries

Concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and crude oil price volatility have made fuel production from biomass a viable supply chain option. Taking advantage of existing refinery infrastructure stands to improve the economics of bio-based fuel production. Thus, the purpose of this study is to conduct a high-level assessment of the ability for current U.S. refinery capacity to accommodate partially converted domestic biomass feedstocks. That is, to assess the impact of liquid biofuel intermediates that are subsequently finished to fuel blendstocks in an existing conventional refinery, rather than to rely on stand-alone biorefineries. Co-refining, then, may be the most cost effective means of reducing overall capital demands, as it will leverage existing U.S. petroleum refining infrastructure.  Therefore, this study examined compatibility of U.S. refining infrastructure in terms of geography and processing capability with anticipated biofuels production.  The examination of bio-oil insertion from a refiner’s perspective reveals a broad range of challenges from processing performance to ability to produce adequate quantities and qualities of products, to product performance issues that will require substantially greater effort to further evaluate and resolve.   A study of biomass availability around US refineries, and a preliminary assessment of the impact of co-refining will be presented.