Petrobras licenses Honeywell UOP technology for renewable diesel, SAF production in Brazil
Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company, announced in late December that it has signed a contract to license Honeywell UOP’s hydroprocessed esters and fatty acid (HEFA) technology to produce renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at its Presidente Bernardes Refinery in Cubatão in the state of Sao Paulo.
This will be Petrobras’ first such biorefining unit dedicated to the production of 100 percent biobased diesel fuels.
The HEFA unit at the Presidente Bernardes Refinery will be unique in the company’s refining park and will have the capacity to process 713,265 gallons per day (approximately 240 million gallons per year).
The feedstock mix, according to Petrobras, will be 70 percent soybean oil and 30 percent beef tallow.
“The initiative is one of the highlights of our biorefining program, crucial for us to deliver products with fewer greenhouse-gas emissions, in line with the demands of society and a changing world,” said William França, Petrobras’ director of industrial processes and products.
“This is an important milestone in Petrobras’ decarbonization trajectory,” França continued.
“We have already adapted some of our refineries with coprocessing units capable of producing ‘Diesel R5,’ made up of mineral diesel with 5 percent vegetable oil,” added França.
The production of SAF is strategic for Petrobras as it adds value to the refining park with more efficient processes and new products towards a low-carbon market, the oil company said.
“The licensing of this technology that will be used at the Cubatão unit adds to a series of solutions that Petrobras has been adopting to transform its refining park into an industrial park that combines the production of petroleum derivatives with a lower carbon footprint and the production of fuels with renewable content,” said Cesar Cunha, Petrobras’ executive manager of surface systems, refining, gas and energy.
“Within this strategy, this project at Presidente Bernardes Refinery is the first aimed at producing 100 percent renewable aviation biokerosene and diesel,” Cunha added.
Production is linked to the commitments made by aviation companies with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation from 2027.
CORSIA is ICAO’s program for reducing and compensating emissions of CO2 from international flights.
Its objective is to ensure that emissions are stabilized at the levels observed in 2020, without the airline sector having to stop growing.
Petrobras’ biorefining program foresees investments of USD$1.5 billion in refineries to develop more modern and sustainable fuels.
Among the projects is the construction of two plants dedicated to the production of renewable diesel and SAF, in addition to the expansion of coprocessing mineral diesel with vegetable oil.
The company’s strategic plan includes investments of USD$11.5 billion focused on the energy transition and targeted at low-carbon initiatives.
