REG breaks ground on Geismar renewable fuels expansion, site upgrades

Renewable Energy Group Inc. (REG), Ames, Iowa, has started official construction on the previously announced 250-million gal/year capacity expansion of its existing 90-million gal/year renewable diesel refinery in Geismar, Ascension Parish, La. (OGJ Online, Oct. 6, 2020).

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, the operator said.

Planned improvements will involve 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, the company said.