A 40% reduction in Greenhouse gases that is a simple drop in without issue? Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG – April 17, 2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime Imagine this PHEV fueled from the plug for short drives and a lower carbon intensive renewable gasoline for longer ones. Chevron kicked off a road trip across the U.S. Gulf Coast to showcase an innovative, all-new, gasoline blend with > 50 percent renewable content. Chevron and Toyota employees are currently driving Toyota’s Tundra, RAV4 and Camry on a road trip demonstrating the fuel, which is > 40 percent less carbon intensive than traditional gasoline on a lifecycle basis! The road trip will run from Mississippi through Louisiana before concluding in Texas. During the tour, Chevron reps will talk with the public about the benefits of lower carbon fuels including straight up biofuels and renewable gasoline blends. Renewable gasoline blend can notably reduce lifecycle emissions and be used in the existing automotive fleet and with the existing fueling network. The future of transportation is lower carbon emissions and Chevron is increasing the variety of biofuel solutions for customers. The company produces and markets biodiesel, renewable diesel, and renewable natural gas, and is currently building an H2 fueling infrastructure in California. On the gasoline front, Chevron has now developed, produced, and tested blends of renewable gasoline with the goal of such blends being manufactured using today’s infrastructure and used in almost any gasoline-powered vehicle to deliver an immediate carbon intensity reduction over traditional gasoline. Chevron Co-Process’ Biofeed at its El Segundo, California's Refinery Chevron is now able to run biofeed inputs in conjunction with other feed stocks through the gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking unit at its 269,000 b/d El Segundo, California, refinery as it looks to reduce carbon intensity of its fuels, a company executive said Tuesday. Chevron is the first major to do so. Chevron's El Segundo refinery has 73,800 b/d of fluid catalytic cracking capacity and is a key supplier of gasoline to the Los Angeles area. It has the infrastructure to allow it to use bio-feedstocks and other co-feeds reliably, taking advantage of existing capital investment. Renewable gasoline blends use a variety of feedstocks and technologies to achieve carbon intensity reductions. Along with innovation from engine manufacturers and public policy supporting lower carbon fuels, renewable gasoline blends are intended to reduce the carbon intensity of light and medium duty vehicles already on the road. Chevron and Toyota are exploring new technologies for fueling LD and HD vehicles and are pursuing a strategic alliance to explore new H2 fuel solutions for the transportation sector. Chevron’s Renewable Gasoline Overview The light-duty automotive sector currently accounts for a staggering 57% of U.S. transportation emissions, and renewable gasoline blends are a path toward reducing this figure over both the short and longer terms. In the U.S., the average passenger vehicle is 12 years old. And the average light-duty automobile remains on American roads for almost 20 years before being decommissioned. This means that vehicles sold in the 2030s will still be on the road in the 2050s. With the help of renewable gasoline blends, reducing lifecycle emissions from the current on the road fleet can occur essentially overnight. A renewable gasoline blend is an alternative fuel designed to be seamlessly integrated into the light-duty sector, with no changes to existing engines or infrastructure. Because they can be easily integrated into the existing energy infrastructure, they are an appealing option for reducing lifecycle carbon emissions in the LD sector. Chevron’s renewable gasoline blends are a combination of traditional and renewable fuels. The result is a fuel that PERFORMS IDENTICALLY to traditional gasoline but emits less CO2 on a lifecycle basis. This includes a high energy density making them both efficient and cost-effective. Chevron’s renewable gasoline blends can help drivers reduce their carbon footprint without sacrificing their vehicles’ performance or making costly changes to their engines. These blends can be used in place of traditional gasoline with no changes to existing engines or infrastructure. These drop-in renewable fuels results in a > 40% reduction in lifecycle carbon emissions! A range of solutions is crucial to a lower carbon future Chevron intends to provide a fossil-fuel alternative that is cost-effective. Renewable fuels are already being used in traditional gasoline. Across the U.S., each gallon of gasoline sold contains up to 10% ethanol. Our renewable gasoline blends have more than 50% renewable content. Chevron and Bunge recently closed a transaction that created Bunge Chevron Ag Renewables LLC. The new company is developing renewable fuel feedstocks leveraging Bunge’s expertise in oilseed processing and farmer relationships and Chevron’s expertise in fuels manufacturing and marketing. The 50/50 joint venture is intended to help Chevron meet the demand for lower lifecycle carbon intensity fuels and develop renewable feedstocks. It is anticipated the joint venture will be able to establish a reliable supply chain from farmer to fueling station and double the current facility capacities from 7,000 tons per day by the end of 2024. At Chevron’s Investor Day in February, the company detailed progress toward achieving its target to reduce the carbon intensity of its oil and gas production to 24 kg/barrel of oil equivalent by 2028 through execution of carbon abatement projects. The company also provided updates on its new energy business lines with the company halfway to its 2030 renewable fuels target and taking steps to build businesses in carbon capture, offsets, and hydrogen. This is a big deal!
Well, this announcement is already being used to attack EVs. From what was briefly mentioned about the source in other places, it sounds like the renewable gasoline is made from by products from HVO(hydrotreated vegetable oil). That is taking vegetable oil and putting through a process like petroleum refining to get a drop in diesel replacement. Sounds like it ends up with some waste light weight molecules, though I guess you can go all out on converting the oil to gasoline. Porsche and Exxon are going the efuel route for theirs. Renewable electricity for hydrogen to methane that gets converted to gasoline. Cost is going to be an issue with either way. For those thinking it will spare them from getting a plug in, it may only be viable to use with a PHEV.
Hi Trollbait: In this afternoon’s discussion, the final refined renewable gasoline molecule is exactly the same RFG gasoline you can purchase anywhere in the US down to the atom. The upstream feedstock is indeed a vegetable oil based product and this is where the renewable fuel moniker comes into play. I am adding more to the OP after this. I can see EV opponents using this release to bash EVs on the emissions promise. The price of the renewable fuel will be a bit more but there is not enough renewable feedstock to make a real dent in our insatiable appetite for oil and the refined products that come from it including gasoline. Wayne
This is why feedstocks other than vegetable oils need to be considered. There are several production facilities planned, or are currently operational, that are using forest wastes for feedstock for renewable fuels (renewable jet/diesel in particular): https://www.redrockbio.com/ https://velocys.com/2019/10/10/negative-emission-fuel-agreement/ https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210811005565/en/Strategic-Biofuels-Achieves-Major-Project-Milestone-Towards-World’s-First-Carbon-Negative-Renewable-Diesel-Plant https://www.greencarcongress.com/2023/04/20230415-terrastar.html Note that some of these renewable fuels are carbon NEGATIVE. From what I've been able to gather, there's potentially enough forest waste/residue to produce most if not all of the aviation (jet) fuel and diesel fuel used in the U.S. each year (~85B gallons). This is partly from my own experience as an "incident meteorologist" in the National Weather Service. The extremely intense and difficult-to-control wild fires we've seen recently are largely the result of poor forest management by allowing extensive fuel loadings in many forests in the nation. One of the reasons thinning this excessive fuel loading isn't being used more is the lack of market for the biomass accumulated from thinning. See, e.g., https://www.paysonroundup.com/catas...cle_34ef194e-ce05-524f-9f9d-33c3f4fbd1b3.html. "Prescribed burns" are what is mostly used now to control fuel loadings, but those can get out of control if thinning isn't used first. We could potentially solve two big problems with better forest management - less intense wildfires and biomass feedstock for low-, no-, or carbon-negative fuels for transportation. Also, as previously mentioned, synthetic fuels ("e-fuels") also can potentially be carbon neutral or even carbon negative if the system is properly configured (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c05893).
A single renewable fuel source isn't going to work. Most of the fleet will have to be hybrids and PHEVs for the costs to be tolerable to the public. Carbon capture would likely improve Chevron's numbers for this fuel too. When companies are talking about CO2 capture and sequestration, keep a look out for the term utilization. This means the CO2 will get used for something instead of directly sequestered. It's a neutral term by itself. The CO2 could be going to fire extinguishers, dry ice, refrigerants, or efuels. Most of the CO2 supply in the US goes to getting more oil and gas out of the ground though. By hey, at least that CO2 is now down there. Mmm, looks like a sequestration facility that does enhanced oil and gas recovery is counted as sequestration in the US. https://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/su...ion-and-geologic-sequestration-carbon-dioxide "Does not include facilities that conduct enhanced oil and gas recovery and that also report geologic sequestration of CO2 under Subpart RR."
Sounds like the "TerraStar" process is most promising since "...by-products of fuel production are carbon-rich solids that sequester carbon when used as soil amendments. In many cases, the Company’s FLEX plants will have a negative carbon footprint...." https://www.globenewswire.com/news-...for-TerraStar-Renewable-Fuel-Flex-Plants.html Thus, it is not a CCS process; it is sequestering solid carbon. Renewable jet/diesel from waste biomass uses the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process, which is highly exothermic and more or less is able to utilize the waste heat to recycle in the process and/or produce electricity for export. There isn't much gasoline produced in FT, only naphtha, which can be used as a gasoline additive. As for costs, a 2010 report by EPA (Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2) Regulatory Impact Analysis) estimated that "Cellulosic diesel from BTL" could be produced commercially for $2.37/gallon plus ~$0.15/gallon distribution costs (Table 4.4-4 on page 810; in 2007$). At any rate, a market for forest wastes/residues still needs to be established, which can be provided at least in part by renewable fuel production from forest residues. Reducing fuel loadings exclusively by prescribed burning not only releases considerable GHG emissions, but also totally uncontrolled criteria air pollutants. Doing nothing will result in massive wildfire that do the same. There was a site in Oregon that recorded an average daily concentration of PM2.5 of 641.6 µg/m3 on 9/12/2020 according to airnow.gov. The current 24-hour NAAQS is 35 µg/m3 just for perspective.
Sounds like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar. Though it technically might not be, depends on what TerraStar's gasification process actually is. Biochar could more accurately be described as a pyrolysis waste product that happens to have some uses. The pyrolysis process can be adjusted to make more or less biochar. The maximum end of biochar production is a charcoal plant. A fuel plant will on the minimum end. They do use pyrolysis. https://terrastarenergy.com/ That yields a bio-oil and syngas. They are probably putting the syngas through the FT process, and combining that product with the bio-oil to make a diesel.
Hi Wxman: While there are a number of ways to make a renewable synthetic diesel or diesel substitute, making a drop in renewable synthetic gasoline is a different matter. I did not hear anything about the ability to use a wood pulp, corn stover, or anything other than a vegetable oil like supply chain as a feedstock for the Chevron process. I also only heard one side of the story. Is there a net positive return on energy and lower GHG emissions? From the few points I was provided, the resultant details have been peer reviewed internally but you never know. In any case, I am really excited about this renewable gasoline since the GHG emission reduction by 40+ percent figure even if through a smaller refinery is exactly what we need. A small step is a good one and this is a rather large leap in the right direction imho. With all of the above, a few hours ago I was offered a unique proposition to use some of this brand new renewable Chevron fuel in my soon to arrive 2023 Toyota Prius LE. To say I am ecstatic is an understatement. A 100% drop in, renewable gasoline with the exact same molecular composition of RFG that provides a GHG reduction of 40 + percent is to put it bluntly, "Pretty Damn Cool! Wayne
Hi Wayne, Have you ever heard of Prometheus Fuels (https://www.prometheusfuels.com/)? They are expecting to be able to produce synthetic gasoline for <$3.00/gallon and it will be carbon neutral, or so the CEO claims (https://www.prometheusfuels.com/news/dude-wheres-my-fuel). They use some sort of nanotec process, not FT apparently. Don't know if this will ever materialize, but it sounds good if it does. [Warning, the prometheus web site is slow and clunky.] Glad you will be able to test the Chevron Fuel. Look forward to hearing how it does. Edit - This is an e-fuel, not a biofuel. My mistake. I think you're right, bio-gasoline has more restrictive feedstocks than renewable diesel.
The carbon intensity of fuels from crops is going to depend upon what goes into growing them. Right now the equipment is using diesel and the fertilizer is ammonia from natural gas. Shift those to a renewable source, and it gets better. Prometheus is an e-fuel system. Porsche has a plant making gasoline running in Chile that should get the price to $7.60 a gallon when at full production in 2026. All the energy inputs are from wind. "A Global Thermostats system extracts CO2 from the air using an amine-based sorbent coating on a porous ceramic honeycomb matrix. CO2 is periodically "washed off" by low-temperature steam to yield 98 percent pure CO2. Green methanol is then formed by running the hydrogen and CO2 through a Johnson Matthey copper-zinc catalyst. Finally, the methanol is vaporized, superheated, and fed to a fluid-bed reactor where an ExxonMobil catalyst helps convert it to gasoline, with water as a byproduct." - https://www.motortrend.com/features/porsche-supercup-efuel-direct-air-carbon-capture/ One of Porsche's partners in that plant, HIF, just got the approval to build an e-fuel plant in Texas for methanol, gasoline, and IIRC LPG. They are looking to site another one for aviation fuel. There a some other projects around the world doing methanol for shipping. Prometheus could have a cheaper way of doing this, but they are at the point of finalizing their commercial cell design. They have to get over the catch up hurdle before running out of funds.
Hi All: I can confirm that Chevron's renewable gasoline is 100% the same molecule as std. gasoline! I was told the ASTM spec and MSDS show the exact same parameters between regular RFG and the Renewable fuel directly out of the refinery. This is remarkable beyond anything we have seen from a gasoline or gasoline substitute in a very long long time. 2023 Toyota Tundra Hybrid Fueled by Chevron renewable gasoline. I wish I could say more but we will be hearing a lot more about this new Chevron renewable gasoline in short order. Wayne
