Trends in Renewable Diesel for 2023

According to Thompson Reuters for the first time ever in the United States, renewable diesel production has surpassed biodiesel – a more established but less convenient fuel alternative – in 2022. Thanks to financial incentives like the US’ Biodiesel Income Tax credit, renewable diesel output in the US alone is expected to exceed 5.1 billion gallons. This is over a five-fold increase from the 2020 annual production of 1 billion gallons.

Renewable diesel — also known as green diesel — is a mixture of alkanes that can be used by existing diesel engines without modification. Compared to other green alternatives like biodiesel (an ester of fatty acids) renewable diesel is a shelf-stable, non-corrosive option that is low in both oxygen and sulfur content as well as being fully miscible with existing diesel fuels.

While existing hydrotreating units can be converted to produce renewable diesel, the fatty acid feed stock used in these units is more corrosive and contains more oxygen content than traditional hydrocracking feedstock. This requires changes to the unit’s operating conditions, along with a whole new set of parameters to track performance and efficiency.

Applied Analytics can help you keep your unit at peak efficiency by:

• Monitoring hydrogen levels in your recycle stream with our APG-710 H₂ Analyzer
• Keeping tabs on side reactions by measuring CO and CO₂ with our MCP-200 Analyzer
• Optimizing catalyst efficiency by ensuring your catalyst pre-sulfiding is complete with our OMA-300 H₂S Analyzer

The future of renewable diesel fuels looks promising, and Applied Analytics is here to help you at each step along the way. Don’t let your process be a ‘black box’. Reach out to an Applied Analytics Engineer today and let us provide you a window into your process.

Application Note: Renewable Diesel