Tracking the Biogenic Component of Lower-Carbon Intensive, Co-Processed Fuels—An Overview of Existing Approaches

Abstract

Several methods are currently used to track the bio-component of co-processed fuels including energy/mass balance, yield methods and radiocarbon techniques. The methods used to track or estimate the bio-component of fuels produced when bio and fossil feedstocks are processed together (co-processed) in oil refineries were analysed in detail, together with their advantages and disadvantages. Some methods, such as radiocarbon methods that allow the direct measurement of the bio-content in a fuel, have been criticised due to low accuracy at low blends. However, these reservations have tended to misinterpret the options available for carbon dating and to discount recent improvements in these tests. As much higher co-pressing mixtures are anticipated if published national decarbonisation targets are to be achieved, any challenges at very low co-processing ratios affecting the accuracy of the radiocarbon methods should not be an issue. Energy/mass balance and yield methods might be supplemented with carbon-tracking to determine the real the biogenic content.