Renewable Energy Group Inc. (REG), Ames, Iowa, has let a contract to John Wood Group PLC to provide a suite of services to support a 250-million gal/year capacity expansion and improvement project now under way at its existing 90-million gal/year renewable diesel refinery in Geismar, Ascension Parish, La. (OGJ Online, Oct. 6, 2020).
As part of the Nov. 2 contract announced on Nov. 2, Wood is delivering engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services for the expansion and related works at the refinery to improve the site’s operational reliability and logistics, the service provider said.
While Wood did not disclose a value of the REG Geismar EPCM contract, Steve Conway—senior vice-president of Wood’s Americas business—said the Geismar project comes as part of a larger trend the firm is seeing involving companies’ increased focus on using a multitude of renewable feedstocks to deliver low-carbon fuels to meet rising customer demand for lower-carbon, sustainable products.
Recently combined with an original plant improvement project, the Geismar expansion project, which broke ground on Oct. 13, will involve upgrades to the existing site as well as construction of an existing site to accommodate Geismar’s aggregate finished renewable diesel production capacity increase to 340 million gal/year (OGJ Online, Oct. 18, 2021).
Project details
Alongside expanding renewable diesel production, REG’s Geismar project will include planned improvements involving works to expand the site’s marine logistics to enable global trading of feedstocks and fuel, for which International-Matex Tank Terminals LLC (IMTT) will build out storage tanks and related logistics infrastructure at its nearby Geismar bulk-liquid storage and marine terminal to accommodate REG’s increased production (OGJ Online, Aug. 27, 2021).
The Geismar improvement and expansion project comes as part of REG’s strategy to strategically grow its renewable fuels production to meet rising consumer, investor, and regulatory demand for reduced-carbon fuel options, according to Cynthia (CJ) Warner, REG’s president and chief executive officer.
Previously estimated to require a minimum $825-million capital investment, REG in early August estimated overall cost of its revised Geismar project at about $950 million.
The Geismar improvement and expansion project remains on schedule to reach mechanical completion by 2023, with full commissioning of the expanded plant to follow in 2024.
Once online, fuel produced at REG’s expanded Geismar plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 2.8 million tonnes/year, or the equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from 7.1 billion miles driven by an average passenger vehicle.
