Overall approach and the application of eligible methods
1. Economic operators co-processing biomass may develop and use a company-specific or process-specific testing method to determine the carbon-based share of bio-content that is adapted to their particular factory design and feedstock mix. That main testing method shall be based on either mass or energy balance, yield methods, or radiocarbon ( 14 C) testing (i.e. radiocarbon detecting through Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) or Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC) method) of the outputs.
2. Economic operators shall consider the whole refinery, the installation treating bioliquids and fossil oil or the installation co-processing waste inputs as system boundaries independently from the testing method used. Blending of co-processed fuels with other fuels shall be considered as being outside the system boundaries. The radiocarbon ( 14 C) testing shall be done before the fuels produced through co-processing are further blended with other fossil fuels or biofuels that were not part of the co-processing itself.
3. When economic operators report co-processing results, they shall provide details on the accuracy and precision of the testing method used. Economic operators shall account for and report any inaccuracies in their measurements of flows or heating values as part of their main testing method. Economic operators shall apply the same testing method to different processing units of the same refinery, the installation treating bioliquids and fossil oil or the installation co-processing waste inputs. If these units are not connected and there are no flows between them, economic operators may apply different testing methods. In the case of installations co-processing waste-based inputs, this methodology and verification through radiocarbon ( 14 C) testing can be applied only if a reliable and representative set of samples can be performed at the level of the inputs that allow to establish the bio content in the total inputs.
4. Economic operators shall ensure that the detection limit of the testing method selected can effectively measure the expected share of biofuels or biogas in the process.
5. When economic operators report co-processing results using a main testing method other than one based on radiocarbon ( 14 C) testing, they shall use radiocarbon ( 14 C) testing of the outputs as a regular way of verifying the correctness of the performance of their system and the results of the main testing method used. Verification through radiocarbon ( 14 C) testing shall be required for all outputs claiming a carbon-based bio-content.
6. Economic operators shall thoroughly document the amounts and types of biomass entering the common process where biomass is processed with fossil fuels, as well as the amounts of biofuel and biogas that are produced from that biomass. In addition, economic operators shall substantiate that information with evidence, including the results of the main control testing method set out in paragraph 1 and the results of the verification method set out in paragraph 5 or Article 5 in case of establishing the share of hydrogen of biological origin.
Mass balance method
1. If a mass balance method is used, the economic operator shall perform the full mass balance analysis of the total mass of inputs and outputs. The mass balance method shall ensure that the bio-content of all outputs is proportional to the bio-content of the inputs and that the share of biogenic material identified by the radiocarbon 14 C testing results is allocated to each output. Different conversion factors shall be applied for each output that most accurately correspond to the measured bio-content through the radiocarbon 14 C testing results. The output shall take into account the mass lost in off-gases, in liquid industrial wastewaters and in solid residues. The mass balance method shall include additional analytic characterization of feedstocks and products, such as ultimate and proximate analyses of system mass flows.
2. If a mass balance method is used as the main method, the economic operators shall take into account in the calculation the moisture and other non-fuel impurities in their feedstock as well as in the outputs of their production process.
Energy balance method
If an energy balance method is used, the energy share of biogenic content in all outputs from a co-processing step in an oil refinery shall be determined as being equal to the energy share of the biogenic content at the refinery input. The energy balance method shall record the energy content in the biomass and the fossil feedstocks and the process energy entering the co-processing facility. The energy content of both biomass and fossil feedstocks shall be calculated by using the mass of the feedstock and its lower heating value (LHV, measured in MJ per kg). The bio-fraction, calculated as bio energy input divided by total energy input, shall be applied to all fuel outputs, which result from co-processing, in order to determine the bio-content in the final fuels produced. Different conversion factors shall be applied for each output that best correspond to the measured bio-content through the radiocarbon 14 C testing results.
Yield methods
1. Where a yield method is used, economic operators may use one of the two methods described below in order to obtain a yield factor to be applied to the common process of the fuel production:
(a)
Yield Method A. The yields of the various products shall be first observed and recorded when the processing units operate with only pure fossil feedstock or, for specific applications (e.g. limited concentrations) on pilot scale units representative of the commercial scale ones. Then, a share of biomass feedstocks shall be added to the input stream and the incremental effect on the yields shall be observed and recorded. The bio-content shall be then attributed to each product in proportion to the increase in its production. Each yield factor shall only be valid for the reference inputs and process conditions, for which the yield factor had been established. Economic operators may define different yield factors to refer to different processes and operating conditions. Member States, in accordance with the rules stipulated in this Regulation, may define the yield factors that economic operators have to use on their territory. If different yield factors are used, a radiocarbon 14 C test shall be carried out each time a new yield factor is used and the correlation between reference inputs and process conditions shall be checked and, if needed, updated.
(b)
Yield Method B. This method shall establish a relationship between the bio-input and the bio-output of a co-processing unit. The conversion factor shall be determined by running several batches of feedstock at known co-processing conditions, including a full characterization of inputs and outputs of the system. After having determined this yield factor correlation, it can be applied to the biogenic feedstock of the same type and quality that is used in the same co-processing unit working at the same operating conditions.
2. Economic operators may only use yield methods as a main method if the system is kept under reference operating conditions defined by them, including for feedstock quality. If economic operators use a yield method, they shall use the radiocarbon 14 C testing as a control method to verify its yield factor at least whenever they change the reference operating conditions and in accordance with article 6.
3. The economic operator shall demonstrate the continuous operation of the plant at known co-processing conditions by running each specific bio-input through 14 C testing, used to calculate its specific conversion factor.
Establishing the share of hydrogen of biological origin
1. If the production system co-processes renewable hydrogen of biological origin, economic operators shall document and provide evidence about the origin of the hydrogen as well as a proof that the hydrogen entering the hydrotreater or other co-processing unit:
(a)
has not been counted as a renewable energyelsewhere in order to avoid double-counting, and
(b)
has been incorporated into the final fuel and not simply used to remove impurities.
2. Economic operators may use a common refinery elemental analysis such as CHN (Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen) test to quantify the hydrogen content of the material before and after hydro treating as a way to document if there is any increase in hydrogen content of the fuel. Economic operators may account any such increase as an additional biofuel or biogas in the output. The biological origin of the hydrogen used in hydro treating or co-processing shall be certified for its biological origin by the supplier or the economic operators themselves, in case they are also producers before use.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
