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A Hot Industry Topic – MTI Roundtable Aims to Bring Awareness and Identify Industry Gaps for Future Sustainability Projects

Renewable diesel is one of the fastest-growing “new” additions to the suite of energy sources. The Knowledge Roundtable focused on Renewable Diesel, scheduled for June 21, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri in conjunction with AmeriTAC 138, addresses the motivation for the recent push into renewables. It will provide an overview of the major processes used in conversion of renewable feeds to products, including hydrotreating and pretreatment processes, as well as give attendees an understanding of applicable damage mechanisms and the role of corrosion control documents and integrity operating windows for renewables units.

Leading the Roundtable (project #385) planning are MTI co-Champions, Nate Sutton (Equity Engineering) and Karen Picker (Sandvik), in cooperation with Jeremy Nelson (Koch Industries), AmeriTAC Chair and Andrew Rentsch (Huntsman), AmeriTAC Vice Chair. Sustainability is a broad and wide-ranging topic; however, both Champions recognized the need to bring awareness to the relationship and implications for the process industry. After exploring project ideas, the team managed to narrow the subject to sustainability as it pertains to renewable fuels — a trending topic with very limited information about the challenges and best practices around the technology used to produce these fuels.

“MTI recognizes that sustainability is a priority for many companies and is on the minds of individuals at those companies,” share Sutton and Picker. “In the most basic sense,
a sustainable company is one that remains a viable business in the long term, so we all want our companies to be sustainable! But sustainability means different things to different audiences. So, the project team decided to focus on a smaller segment of the industry directly tied to sustainability.”

According to the Champion duo, the Roundtable planning team hopes to identify industry gaps and develop projects where MTI can play a leading role on research within
industry. The aim is to educate everyone to be better equipped to make materials decisions when the time comes.

“This Roundtable will position MTI as an industry research leader because this is a relatively new topic for the industry, which is starving for new data,” remarks Picker. “This
is the first of many topics we can explore on the sustainability front.”

So what can attendees expect the program to include? Sutton outlines the format for the event, which will be open to MTI members and non-members.

“This is a full day structured event with multiple presentations and will include a panel session with the opportunity for Q&A with the various speakers,” he explains. “The
topics have been selected to help attendees gain a full understanding of the motivation for and implementations of processing bio-oil feedstocks. Topics will cover the full
range from business and market trends to governmental incentives and regulatory impacts, along with the usual robust technical content MTI attendees expect — process
chemistry fundamentals, damage mechanisms, materials selection, and the role of conventional mechanical integrity tools, such as integrity operating windows in renewables units.”

Sutton notes the team is still coordinating with potential presenters, but anticipate speakers from the US Department of Energy, major technology licensors for both bio-oil
hydrotreaters and bio-oil pretreatment units, operating companies, EPC firms experienced with this technology, as well as consultants and service providers with direct experience assisting owners in running renewable feeds.

Picker and Sutton encourage everyone to attend this in-person only event to share and learn about the latest industry hot topic.

“Bring questions, experiences, and even concerns about the applications, the challenges, and the policies/drivers behind this trend,” they conclude. “The panelists are
eager to discuss specific issues and network with attendees, both during the panel session and at the reception to follow.”

Originally published in MTI CONNECT 2022, Issue 1.