Repurposing oil refineries to "stand-alone units" that refine lipids/oleochemicals to produce low-carbon intensive, drop-in biofuels

The increasing pressure to decarbonize has incentivized several oil refineries to repurpose their oil refiners to "stand-alone biorefineries" that produce lower carbon intensive (CI), drop-in biofuels. This has typically involved modifying older, uneconomic refineries that have processed various types of fossil-derived oil feedstocks to process a range of lower carbon intensive (CI) oleochemical/lipid feedstocks such as used cooking oil (UCO). Refineries where the hydroprocessing unit predominates have been the major producers of drop-in biofuels such as renewable diesel and biojet/sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). However, modifications to unit operations, such as the hydroprocessing facility, are typically required while, how the deoxygenation of the oleochemical feed-stocks is carried out is influenced by a variety of considerations. The carbon intensity of the final fuels is influenced by several factors such as the source of the lipid feedstock, the nature of the hydrogen used to upgrade the feedstocks, the potential use of "green" electricity, etc. As is being pursued by several companies, co -processing provides a way to lower the carbon intensity of the final fuels without the need for major infra-structure changes within the refinery. However, access to oleochemical feedstocks is anticipated to become increasingly challenging due to cost and availability. Consequently, the use of biomass-derived-biocrudes in both stand-alone and co-processing facilities is anticipated to increase. The use of more variable and diverse biogenic feedstocks will require further modification of refinery operations, particularly those facilities which co-process low CI feedstocks at the hydroprocessor rather than at the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit.