A North American refinery had roughly 6,000 barrels of biodiesel stored for blending within their ultra-low-sulfur-diesel (ULSD). Due to operational challenges, the biodiesel was not used timely and degraded to off-specification conditions. This meant that it could not be blended.
Options needed to be investigated to determine how the biodiesel would be handled.
The option of disposing of the biodiesel was very costly. Additionally, by disposing of it, ~6,000 barrels of pro-duction would also be lost. Therefore, the refiner sought other options.
Veolia was consulted to investigate the possibility of utilizing a chemical additive to bring the biodiesel back to specification.
Multiple laboratory tests were conducted, and a Spec-Aid product was found to bring the bio-diesel back within specifications. The biodiesel was then chemically treated and therefore able to be blended into ULSD in its normal recipe.
Result
By avoiding the disposal of the ~6,000 barrels of biodiesel and blending it in their ULSD, the refinery saved $490,000 in disposal cost and production losses.