Seaboard Energy lets contract for Kansas renewable diesel plant

Seaboard Corp. subsidiary Seaboard Energy LLC has let a contract to Haldor Topsoe AS to provide process technology and related services for a renewable diesel unit currently under construction at the operator’s existing site in Hugoton, Kan.

Topsoe will license its proprietary HydroFlex renewable fuel technology and H2bridge hydrogen technology—based on its modular Haldor Topsoe Convection Reformer (HTCR) technology—for the new plant, which will use a feedstock of tallow and soybean oil to produce 6,500 b/d of renewable diesel, the service provider said on May 14.

Topsoe’s scope of work under the contract also includes supply of basic engineering, proprietary equipment, catalyst, and technical services for the project.

The renewable diesel plant—which Topsoe will deliver as an integrated hydrogen unit and hydroprocessing unit—is scheduled for startup by yearend 2021.

A value of the contract was not disclosed.

The Kansas renewable fuels complex—which will be Seaboard Energy’s first expansion into renewable diesel production—follows the operator’s purchase of Synata Hugoton LLC’s idled Hugoton cellulosic ethanol plant in February 2019, at which the new owner was considering proposed modifications to enable renewable diesel production, according to Seaboard Energy’s website.

Seaboard Energy currently owns and operates two biodiesel plants—one in Guymon, Okla., the other in St. Joseph, Mo.—with a combined production capacity of 75 million gal/year. The company also produces and delivers pipeline-quality renewable natural gas, as well as compressed natural gas.