Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Renewable Fuel Standard ...

animal wastes, including poultry fats and poultry wastes, and other waste
materials, or municipal solid waste and sludges and oils derived from wastewater
and the treatment of wastewater. Current examples of a non-ester renewable
diesel include: “renewable diesel” produced by the Neste process, or diesel fuel
produced by processing fats and oils through a refinery hydrotreating process.
3. Is Motor Fuel that Is Made from a Renewable Feedstock a Renewable
Fuel?
We interpret the statutory definition of renewable fuels to include all gasoline or
diesel that is made from a class of feedstocks called “biocrudes”, which are defined as
biologically derived feedstocks (such as fats and greases). We are providing a definition
of “biocrude-based renewable fuels” to mean gasoline or diesel products resulting from
the processing of biocrudes in production units within refineries that process crude oil
and other petroleum based feedstocks and which make gasoline and diesel fuel. 17 A
particular batch of biocrude used as feedstock to a production unit would replace crude
oil or other petroleum based feedstocks which ordinarily would be the feedstock in that
process unit. The non-ester renewable diesel defined in Section III.B.2.b above could be
one such type.
We are assuming that all of the biocrude used as a feedstock in a refinery unit will
end up as a biocrude-based renewable fuel. Rather than requiring the refiner to document
what portion of the biocrude-based renewable fuel is other than diesel or gasoline (e.g.,
jet fuel), we are proposing to have the volume of the biocrude itself count as the volume
of renewable fuel produced for the purposes of determining the volume block codes that
are in the RIN (discussed in further detail in Section III.D). While this approach may
result in some products such as jet fuel being counted as renewable fuel, we believe the
majority of the products produced will be motor vehicle fuel because we assume refiners
who elect to use biocrudes would do so to help meet the requirements of this rule.
Furthermore, both diesel and gasoline presently make up about 85 percent of the product
slate of refineries on average. This amount that has been steadily increasing for over
time, and we expect that the percentage will continue to increase as demand for gasoline
and diesel increases.
We are also proposing that the Equivalence Value assigned to biocrude-based
renewable fuels be designated as 1.0, despite the fact that they might warrant a higher
value based on their energy content as described in the next section. 18 This approach
should balance out the likelihood that some of the biocrude-based renewable fuel is not a
motor vehicle fuel.
17 Biocrude-based renewable fuels will need to be registered under the provisions contained in 40 CFR 79
Part 4 before they can be sold commercially.
18 With respect to biodiesel, however, since such fuel is typically not made in a traditional petroleum-based
refinery, it would not be a biocrude-based renewable fuel and would thus not be limited to the 1.0
Equivalence Value.
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