Renewable diesel finds a growing market

Production of a fuel known as “renewable diesel” has grown rapidly in the past few years. Cleaner products — renewable and biodiesel — are nearly 10% of the diesel market now. But this less carbon-intensive fuel is concentrated in certain geographic areas.

Old cooking oil and animal fat is increasingly fueling big rigs and heavy-duty vehicles.

“Renewable diesel is a hydrocarbon biofuel that is chemically similar to petroleum diesel,” said Bryan Moser, a chemist with the Agricultural Research Service, “but is made from vegetable oils or animal fats instead of crude petroleum oil.” 

And trucks run fine on it. That also means there’s no need to change transportation infrastructure, said Jeff Short, with the American Transportation Research Institute.

“You can deploy renewable diesel through existing fuel pumps. I’ve heard from some carriers who now only get renewable diesel at their terminal in their pumps, and it was no issue,” Short said. “They just dropped that right in.” 

It’s an easy switch for a smaller carbon footprint, said University of Illinois economist Scott Irwin. 

“It is a much cleaner fuel from a greenhouse gas perspective, there’s just no doubt about that,” Irwin said.

What there is doubt about is the future of renewable diesel, which is more expensive than regular diesel to produce. 

“Renewable diesel is a creature of public policies, so it can live or die depending on how generous those subsidies are,” Irwin said. 

And that will be up to the Trump administration. But Irwin said state subsidies, like those in California, are likely to continue.

“So, there’s been significant growth in California, and that’s starting to begin elsewhere on the West Coast,” said Jimmy Troderman with the Energy Information Administration.

There’s also been modest increases on the East Coast this year.