Sources familiar with the efforts said that US oil giants ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are studying ways to develop renewable fuels without costly refinery upgrades by making the products at their existing facilities.
Exxon has created a task force with testing organization ASTM International to assess the refiners to co-process up to 50% of certain types of bio-feedstocks to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Exxon plans to repurpose its existing refinery units to produce biofuels, among other strategies. By 2025, the company aims at more than 40,000 bpd of low-emission fuels at a competitive cost.
A spokesman commented, "We see the potential to leverage our existing facility footprint, proprietary catalyst technology, and decades of experience in processing challenging feed streams to develop attractive low-emission fuels projects with competitive returns.”
Meanwhile, Chevron is looking for ways to co-process bio feedstocks in their fluid catalytic crackers (FCC) by the end of 2021 to supply renewable products to consumers in Southern California. It has been working together with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) in the works.
A source familiar with the matter said if approved by the EPA and CARB, Chevron would be able to produce and generate credits for renewable gasoline. Earlier in August, the company said that in the second phase of its process, it would be the first US refiner to use the cat cracker to produce renewable fuels.
If the goals are achieved, refiners would be able to avoid lengthy environmental permitting processes.
