Oleochem Analytics — Louisiana Green Fuels, a subsidiary of Strategic Biofuels, announced on Friday plans to build a $700m renewable diesel plant that could produce up to 32m gallons/year of renewable fuel using wood waste as the feedstock.
The plant will be located in Caldwell parish, Louisiana, at the port of Columbia, within one of the largest fibre baskets in the US ensuring long-term cost-effective feedstock supply, according to the company.
The active thinning of forests, along with the branches, pine needles and treetops, known as slash, are the forestry wastes that will supply the plant, the company said.
The wood waste will be processed through a gasification unit to produce synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen.
The syngas will then be processed through a Fischer-Tropsch reactor to produce synthetic crude. The synthetic crude is then processed to make diesel.
About 83% of the final product is expected to be renewable diesel and the remaining 17% would be renewable naphtha, the company said.
Louisiana Green Fuels is completing feasibility and financing phases for the project in anticipation of a final investment decision by late 2022.
In addition to the Columbia renewable diesel refinery, the company envisions the development of additional Louisiana refineries that would target production of renewable aviation fuel as well as diesel.
The plant, which could cost upwards of $1 billion to build according to a local politician who shared the overarching plan, is expected to be operational in late 2024 or early 2025.
