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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Environmental
Protection Agency has not made a decision on US biofuel blending requirements
for 2021 or on petitions from refiners asking to be exempted from past-year
requirements going back to 2011, reported Reuters with reference to EPA Administrator
Andrew Wheeler's statement.
Wheeler could not assure that the agency will
decide the 2021 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) by the Nov. 30 deadline due
to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under US law, refiners are required
to blend billions of gallons of biofuels into their fuel mix, or buy credits
from those that do.
"This has been a very unusual year as far as vehicle
miles traveled, driving has been down," Wheeler said on a call with reporters.
"The COVID response has had a negative impact on both corn growers as well as
refiners, and we're trying to understand what the market is going to be and what
we should expect for next year as far as the RVO is concerned."
Wheeler
said the agency hopes to decide next year's obligations as soon as
possible.
He added that the agency is weighing 67 pending petitions from
refiners, asking to be exempted from obligations for years covering 2011-2018.
Refiners that can prove financial harm from the obligations can apply for
exemptions from the rules.
In January, an appeals court ruled that
waivers granted to small refineries after 2010 had to take the form of an
"extension." Most recipients of waivers in recent years have not continuously
received them, casting doubt on the whole program.
Refiners have sent in
waiver applications to come into compliance with that court ruling, angering
biofuel advocates who say exemptions hurt demand. The oil industry refutes that
claim.
On Tuesday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden criticized
the Trump administration for its handling of the mandates.
As MRC wrote before,
earlier this month, Clariant’s Business Line Biofuels and Derivatives announced
that a strategic partnership had been formed with Chemtex Global Corporation for
the realization of second-generation biofuel projects.
We remind
that in June, 2020, TechnipFMC and Clariant Catalysts announced that
they had entered into a joint development agreement for the demonstration and
commercialisation of Clariant’s new state-of-the-art AcryloMax propylene
ammoxidation catalyst for the production of acrylonitrile (ACN). This new
collaboration will bring together Technip Energies’ well-established expertise
in fluid bed technologies and process development with Clariant’s longstanding
experience and knowledge in the development, manufacturing and supply of
catalysts for the petrochemical industry.
ACN is a feedstock for the
production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
the estimated consumption decreased in January-June 2020 by 18% year on year in
the Russian ABS sector, totalling 19,360 tonnes. 2,680 tonnes of ABS plastics
were processed in Russia in June 2020. |
