Ensyn Corporation has receive regulatory approval from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for the use of Renewable Fuel Oil (RFO) as a feedstock for refineries in California for the production of renewable gasoline and renewable diesel. The approvals come as part of the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). RFO is a collaboration between Ensyn, Tesoro Corporation and Chevron.

Ensyn converts forest residues and other non edible biomass to biocrude, or RFO using its proprietary RTP technology. With the CARB approval, the company now has plans to increase production capacity for a broader commercialization of its fuels business including Refinery Co-processing.

CJ Warner, executive vice president of Strategy and Business Development at Tesoro, said, “We are very pleased to see these regulatory pathways confirmed. These approvals help support and validate our plans to process these renewable feedstocks using our existing infrastructure to produce less carbon-intensive fuels and help lower the cost of compliance with LCFS requirements in California.”

CARB approvals cover the production of both gasoline and diesel via RFO co-processing in specified refineries located in California using forest residues from Ontario. The carbon intensity of the resulting renewable gasoline and diesel was determined to be in the range of approximately 20-25g CO2e/MJ, or approximately 70 percent less than traditional petroleum-based fuels. Ensyn expects that RFO produced at locations closer to the refineries will have reduced carbon intensity due to lower transportation impacts.