Biobased and Renewable Products Update

EPA Issues Final 2018 RFS Requirements

On November 30, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final 2018 volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel.  A pre-publication of the final rule is available now.  The final rule sets the annual percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel for motor vehicle gasoline and diesel produced or imported in 2018, as well as biomass-based diesel for 2019.  The proposed volume requirements are:

■	Cellulosic biofuel, from 311 million gallons in 2017 to 288 million gallons in 2018;
■	Advanced biofuel, from 4.28 billion gallons in 2017 to 4.29 billion gallons in 2018;
■	Renewable fuel, from 19.28 billion gallons in 2017 to 19.29 billion gallons in 2018; and
■	Biomass-based diesel, 2.1 billion gallons in 2018 and 2019.

The cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and renewable fuel volumes increased slightly from the values proposed in July 2017, as reported in the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group’s (BRAG^®) blog post EPA Releases Proposed 2018 RFS Volume Requirements.  These final volumes change the percentage standards to 0.159 percent for cellulosic biofuel, 2.37 percent for advanced biofuel, 10.67 percent for renewable fuel, and 1.74 percent for biomass-based diesel.  This final rule becomes effective on 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

NREL Researchers Optimize Microbial Pathway To Biobased Fuels And Chemicals

On November 29, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that a collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) resulted in the successful modification of a microorganism to produce a versatile fermentation intermediate that can be upgraded into valuable biobased fuels and chemicals.  NREL’s cellulosic ethanol fermentation organism (Zymomonas mobilis), is capable of exclusively producing 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO), which can be catalytically upgraded to a variety of hydrocarbon fuel precursors and valuable chemical co-products.  Techno-economic modeling was performed to study the potential of producing hydrocarbon fuel precursors and co-products in a cost effective manner.  The first breakthrough occurred with genetic modifications to eliminate the ethanol pathways to ensure that sugar metabolism pathways also produced 2,3-BDO.  ORNL continues to explore modifications to its catalytic upgrading system to achieve further process simplifications and cost savings.

On November 29, 2017, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (Ministry) issued proposed amendments to the Ethanol in Gasoline regulation (O. Reg. 535/05) and the Greener Diesel — Renewable Fuel Content Requirements for Petroleum Diesel Fuel (O. Reg. 97/14) under the Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.E.19.  Among the proposed changes is an increase from a 5 percent ethanol blending mandate to 10 percent starting in 2020; a requirement that ethanol sold for compliance to be 35 percent lower in greenhouse gases (GHG) than gasoline; and the application of existing incentives to a wider range of advanced biofuels.  According to the Ministry, the proposed amendments are intended to work with the expected federal Clean Fuels Standard (CFS), ensuring GHG reductions take place in Ontario and Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan goals are supported.  The Ministry stated that it is exploring options to support biofuel production and innovation through a Blenders Support Program (BSP) as well.

On December 1, 2017, Neste, a member of BRAG, announced that its Ham Trick (Kinkkutemppu in Finnish) campaign was awarded two prestigious marketing and communications competitions.  The Ham Trick, which is a campaign in which Neste collects and recycles ham waste fat from 100,000 households throughout Finland for manufacturing renewable diesel, won gold at the 2017 European Excellence Awards (EEA) and bronze in the PR category at the Eurobest awards. According to Kaisa Lipponen, Director of Corporate Communications at Neste, ”[t]he prizes are an excellent form of recognition and proof that the campaigns really interest people.”  All proceeds from the campaign are donated to charity.

■	Reuters, “Brazil Lower House Passes Bill Aimed At Boosting Biofuels Use”
■	University of Minnesota Duluth, “Renewable Energy Lab Delivers Biofuels For The Future”
■	Washington University in St. Louis, “New Pathways, Better Biofuels”
■	Bio-Based World News, “Bio-Based Rubber To Give “Optimal Bounce” To Official Ball Of The FIFA World Cup 2018”