Capacity growth for U.S. biofuel production slowed in 2024, the Energy Information Administration said in a report this week. It found that production capacity rose by a modest 3% from the start of 2024 to the start of 2025, based on the agency’s latest biofuels production capacity reports.
Most of the slowdown was due to a deceleration in production capacity in renewable diesel and other biofuels. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable naphtha, and renewable propane make virtually all other biofuels, the EIA said.
Production capacity for renewable diesel and other biofuels increased just 391 million gallons a year in 2024, less than a third of the growth seen in 2022 and 2023, the report said. Only two capacity additions came online in 2024, both in California: Phillips 66’s conversion of its Rodeo refinery to exclusively produce biofuels and a new Renewable Fuels LLC plant in Bakersfield. The conversion gave the Rodeo plant a capacity of 767 million gallons a year, up from 180 million the previous year, and makes it the second-largest renewable diesel plant in the U.S. after Diamond Green Diesel’s 982 million gallon-a-year plant in Norco, Louisiana.
Growth from the Rodeo expansion and the 138 million gallon-a-year Bakersfield plant was partially offset by the loss of capacity at four facilities, the EIA noted: Monroe Energy and Chevron stopped co-processing renewable diesel at their Trainer, Pennsylvania, and El Segundo, California, refineries, respectively; Vertex Energy closed its Mobile, Alabama, plant and Jaxon Energy closed its Jackson, Mississippi facility. Sign up for more from Pro Farmer.
