INFORM November/December 2025

EXTRACTS & DISTILLATES

inform November/December 2025, Vol. 36 (10) • 31

Industrial Oil Products articles picked by researchers This column highlights articles from non-AOCS journals to complement the AOCS member benefit of access to full journal articles at www.aocs.org/stay-informed/journals.

Bryan Yeh has over 30+ years of senior leader experience in the agribusiness, biofuels, energy, food, management con sulting, renewable chemicals, synthetic biology, and water industries. He is based in Walnut Creek, California.

In the world of Industrial Oil Products, from a volume and revenue perspective, the most impactful products are those made from the hydrotreated esters and fatty acids process, oftentimes referred to as HEFA. These products include renewable diesel (not to be con fused with biodiesel), sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable naphtha and renewable propane. In the United States alone, there is 5.3 billion gallons per year of production capacity for these prod ucts, of which 40 percent is being consumed in California. To justify the use of the HEFA process, it is critical to understand both its eco nomic feasibility as well as the impact that it has on carbon foot print. The first article examines the processes used to make SAF, as well as the environmental impact of the different feedstocks. From a carbon footprint perspective, used cooking oil (UCO) is the most favorable when compared with lipid based feedstock. The second article examines the technical and economic feasibility of produc ing renewable diesel and propane from UCO. The third article fur ther explores the valorization of UCO in the context of producing high value materials from this feedstock. Yang, F. and Yao, Y., Resources, Conservation and Recycling , 215, 108124, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108124 Previous life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) show significant variations in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and costs of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This study conducts a meta-analysis to examine uncertainty sources and their impacts on GHG and cost performances of various SAF pathways, using data harmonized for the U.S. context. Pathways include hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), Fischer– Sustainable aviation fuel pathways: Emissions, costs and uncertainty

Tropsch (FT), bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), alcohol-to-jet process (ATJ), pyrolysis, and pow er-to-liquid (PtL) with direct air capture (DAC). Harmonization reduced uncertainties for all SAF pathways except PtL-DAC, where the H 2 source is the main uncertainty. FT-BECCS, HEFA UCO and PtL-DAC pathways show negative GHG emissions (−9.8 to −122.4 g CO 2eq /MJ), while pyrolysis and HEFA show lower costs (0.4–0.7 $/L) than fossil jet fuel (0.75 $/L). Background process data significantly influence GHG variability across all the pathways and mainly contribute to cost variability in HEFA (except HEFA-Tallow) and FT pathways, whereas foreground pro cess data have larger or comparable impacts on cost variations in ATJ and PtL-DAC pathways. Eco-efficiency analysis reveals nota ble trade-offs among SAF pathways, with some HEFA pathways offering potential co-benefits. Renewable propane and diesel production via used cooking oil hydroprocessing Osipi, S.R., et al. , Energy Conversion and Management , 346, 120460, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120460 The production of green fuels plays a critical role in global decar bonization efforts and the ongoing energy transition. Amid the urgent demand for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, this study investigates the technical and economic feasibility of renewable die