ByChemTero
California leads the nation in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) implementation initiatives. This is driven largely by the State’s aggressive fuel decarbonization goals and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) incentive program. SAF fuel blending components also qualify for US EPA RIN credits. The regional presence and willingness of Silicon Valley venture capital investment and other…
ByChemTero
Conventional jet fuel is made in oil refineries by a variety of processes that convert crude oil into intermediate streams that boil within the allowable range of jet fuel. These intermediates, called kerosene, are then blended together so that the final product meets jet fuel specifications. The amount of refining needed to produce finished fuel…
ByChemTero
The global commercial airline industry is committed to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) primarily by transitioning from today’s petroleum-sourced jet fuel to blends of petroleum with renewable bio-fuels. The push towards sustainable fuels is currently a voluntary effort in the USA as there are no government mandates for jet fuel, unlike those for ground…
There’s been a lot of talk recently about hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas for heating buildings, industrial uses, and for cooking food. The proposal is to gradually add H2 to the natural gas grid, with the H2 being made from water using “excess” renewable electricity when it’s available. But ultimately, there are people…
ByChemTero
Economy of Scale is a fundamental “law” of chemical process economics. The idea is straightforward; a larger process plant is always more profitable than a smaller plant, all other factors being equal. The reason is that most of the plant’s fixed costs are approximately the same whether large or small, but the variable costs are…
ByChemTero
A startup company (call it “StartCo”) discovers a new way to make an existing or potential new chemical of commerce that promises to be more sustainable than incumbent petroleum-based technology. Will StartCo’s technology work profitably? And how much more sustainable is the new product and/or process? These are the basic questions that technical due diligence…
ByChemTero
Energy balances are a fundamental component of all chemical and material manufacturing processes. The balance simply stated is that energy in must equal energy out. This energy normally includes the energy needed to drive the process forward, such as heating, cooling, and pumping, and may include the energy contained within the chemical feed and products…
ByChemTero
While simple in concept, determination of mass balances in real-world chemical applications can often be quite difficult to measure and quantify, especially at early stages of process development. And the financial significance is usually large since profitability of chemical transformation depends on how much of the feedstock input to a chemical reactor or separation unit…
