The owner of the Dickinson diesel refinery is proposing to convert part of it to produce “renewable diesel fuel.”
Tesoro said the plan is to produce about 5 percent of the diesel from vegetable oils. Tesoro public and government affairs North Dakota director Ron Day said “renewable diesel” is different from “bio-diesel.”
"It's not an additive," Day said in an interview. "It is diesel fuel.'
Day said the labeling will be the same as diesel.
"The consumer won't know any different that it's not normal diesel," Day said. "In fact, it's a little bit better than the diesel we have today."
According to Day, "renewable diesel" has an advantage over bio-diesel.
"You don't have the cold flow property issues in wintertime," Day said. "With bio-diesel, you can have jelling issues. Renewable diesel gets by all that."
Day said Tesoro hopes to put the equipment in place during the scheduled September “turnaround,” where the refinery shuts down for maintenance. He said the hope is to have it start producing renewable diesel by the end of 2017. He said if it is successful, Tesoro is considering converting the entire refinery to renewable diesel.
The project’s price tag is $3.5 million. The Industrial Commission’s Renewable Energy Council is recommending a grant of $500,000 for the project. The full Commission will take it up Friday.