Vertex pivots renewable hydrocracker back to conventional processing, production

Vertex Energy Inc. has returned a previously converted renewable diesel hydrocracker to its original conventional service at subsidiary Vertex Refining Alabama LLC’s 75,000-b/d refining and petrochemical complex in Mobile, Ala.

Restarted as of Oct. 9, the reconverted unit is once again processing traditional vacuum gas oil to produce initial volumes of “higher-value refined products, including [conventional] gasoline and diesel” for fourth-quarter 2024, Vertex said.

By the end of second-quarter 2024, the renewable hydrocracker completed final processing of all bio-based feedstock with a total renewable diesel throughput of 3,092 b/d and production yield of 99.7%, according to Vertex’s most recent earning report released in August.

Reconfiguration of the hydrocracker back to conventional service follows the operator’s May announcement that it would undertake the project during a planned third-quarter 2024 catalyst and maintenance turnaround of the unit, during which time renewable catalyst would be replaced with conventional catalyst for transitioning the unit back to production of petroleum-based products (OGJ Online, May 10, 2024).

The Mobile hydrocracker’s return to conventional processing and production comes just over a year after the unit began producing renewable diesel following Vertex’s completion of its multimillion-dollar Phase 1 renewable diesel conversion project (RDCP) to upgrade the refinery’s original conventional hydrocracker—which previously produced olefins as feedstock for petrochemical manufacturers—to process a wide range of organic, pretreated feedstocks, including soybean and corn oil, meat tallow, and waste vegetable oils, among others (OGJ Online, May 1, 2023).

While estimated oversupply of renewable diesel resulting from recently completed and upcoming renewable fuels projects prompted the strategic decision to return the unit to conventional service, Vertex reiterated the hydrocracker reconversion project comes as part of the operator’s original RDCP plan, which included investing to equip the unit with flexibility to switch back and forth between renewable and conventional production based on economics and market demand.

Upon announcing the unit’s return to conventional operations, Ben Cowart, Vertex’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the hydrocracker maintains its intended “future optionality to support energy transition demand.”

Vertex’s reconfiguration of the hydrocracker marks the first project by any operator taking on a flexible conventional-to-renewable unit conversion in recent years to return such a unit to its original conventional mode of operation.