In California, for the first time, over half of diesel fuel used statewide was replaced by cleaner fuels, as of the first quarter of 2023.
The California Air Resources Board called the announcement a “landmark” for the state. This can all be attributed to the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which is designed to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions through improving vehicle technology, decreasing fuel consumption, and providing cleaner fuel alternatives.
“As technological advances put a zero-emissions future within reach, the use of cleaner fuels offers an essential tool to reduce pollution now,” California Air Resources Board Executive Officer Steven Cliff said in a statement. “A 50% reduction in diesel means cleaner air, healthier communities, and a commitment to reaching carbon neutrality in California by 2045.”
EcoWatch is reporting that according to the California Air Resources Board, the cleaner fuel sources include “renewable diesel, biodiesel, electricity, and hydrogen.” So, let’s look at two of these cleaner fuels.
Biodiesel is the second-most used and produced biofuel in the US
According to the California Energy Commission, biodiesel was first introduced in the state in 2000 and is made mostly from soybean oil and other recycled oils. Up until 2000, only small amounts were produced in the US.
However, U.S. biodiesel consumption and production increased substantially, largely because of the availability over time of various government incentives and requirements to produce, sell, and use biodiesel.
In 2020, biodiesel was second to fuel ethanol as the most produced and consumed biofuel in the United States and accounted for about 11 and 12 percent of total U.S. biofuel production and consumption respectively.
Biodiesel is approved for blending with petroleum diesel/distillate under the American Society for Testing and Materials specification ASTM D6751. This is because pure biodiesel has limited direct-use applications and faces supply logistics challenges because of its physical properties and characteristics.
Anyway, as of January 1, 2021, there were 75 U.S. biodiesel production facilities with a total production capacity of about 2.4 billion gallons per year. About 62% percent of the production capacity is located in midwestern states.
The use of renewable diesel and other biofuels is small but increasing
Again, the California Energy Commission says that first introduced in 2012, renewable diesel is made from animal waste oils. Because renewable diesel is chemically the same as petroleum diesel, it may be used in its pure form—called R100—as a drop-in fuel, or it can be blended with petroleum diesel and/or with biodiesel in various amounts.
According to the U.S. Renewable Diesel Fuel and Other Biofuels Plant Production Capacity report, as of January 1, 2021, there were six operating U.S. renewable diesel production facilities with a combined total production capacity of about 791 million gallons per year.
Two of these facilities are former petroleum refineries converted to processing biofuels. In 2021, U.S. renewable diesel production equaled about 815 million gallons (0.82 billion gallons) and consumption equaled about 1,163 million gallons (1.16 billion gallons), which included about 392 million gallons of imports. California uses most of the U.S. renewable diesel fuel imports.
