ECB taps UOP for renewable diesel, jet fuel plant in Paraguay

ECB Group will use the UOP Ecofining process to convert vegetable oils and inedible animal fats into renewable diesel and jet fuel at the Omega Green production facility in Villeta, near Asuncion, Paraguay, Honeywell UOP announced.

ECB Group is a Brazilian holding company with investments and strategic holdings in agroenergy companies, operating in areas such as biodiesel production and power generation electricity from renewable sources.

This marks the first advanced biofuels project in Paraguay, as well as the largest private investment in the country’s history.

Honeywell UOP was selected to provide technology and engineering services for the project, which will produce fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including renewable diesel and jet fuel.

Honeywell UOP has designed the Omega Green project to minimize fossil CO2 emissions at the site by using the renewable LPG and naphtha produced in the UOP Ecofining unit to self-sustain the process in energy and hydrogen. In partnership with Wood, a global consulting and engineering company, Honeywell UOP will integrate Wood’s hydrogen plant technology with the Ecofining unit design to produce hydrogen from renewable feedstocks. This will further reduce the overall carbon intensity of the Honeywell Green Diesel and Honeywell Green Jet Fuel .

When it enters operation, Omega Green will produce up to 20,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel and jet fuel. The complex is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs during construction and 2,400 direct and indirect jobs when fully operational. ECB estimates that more than 20,000 family farms will benefit from social certification programs to produce feedstocks for the plant.

“As demand for diesel and jet fuel continues to grow globally, it is a major milestone to have the first biorefinery in South America which can help meet this demand with renewable domestic resources,” said Ben Owens, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions. “Our renewable fuels technologies are a proven solution to that, helping Paraguay become a leading supplier of biofuels.”

“The Omega Green project will have the latest and most advanced technology for the industrial process of renewable diesel and the aero renewable kerosene, in addition to green naphtha,” said Erasmo Carlos Battistella, ECB Group CEO. “The success of this initiative in Paraguay is based on strong collaborations like the one we have with Honeywell.”

The Honeywell Ecofining process, developed in conjunction with Eni SpA, converts non-edible natural oils, animals fats and other waste feedstocks to
renewable diesel and jet fuel , which is chemically identical to their petroleum-based counterparts. Both products offer improved performance over commercial petroleum-based diesel and jet fuel, and can be used as a drop-in replacement in vehicles and aircraft with no equipment modifications. UOP currently has licensed 20 Ecofining units in nine countries around the world, processing 12 different types of renewable feedstocks.