Sustainable Oils gets feedstock-only pathway for camelina from CARB

In California, Sustainable Oils has been issued a first-of-its-kind feedstock-only pathway by the California Air Resources Board for the production of Camelina-based fuels under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).

The pathway, when combined with a specific processors production profile, will produce the lowest carbon intensity (CI) virgin oil-based fuel available in the marketplace. Camelina-based biodiesel at a CI of approximately 19 g/MJ can be produced at a fraction of soy (83 g/MJ) or canola (63 g/MJ) based biofuels. Camelina’s extremely low CI will allow obligated parties in California to meet their reduction targets using a fraction of the biofuel otherwise required.

The pathway only applies to Sustainable Oils’ US Patent and Trademark Office-registered seed varieties – no other Camelina seed or oil can be used to produce LCFS compliant fuel. The feedstock-only CI is 7.58 g/MJ. When combined with ARB’s generic North American producer profile, the feedstock-only pathway produces biodiesel and renewable diesel at CIs of approximately 19.1 and 18.7, respectively.

Lower CIs can be achieved by processors with more efficient production profiles.