UrbanX Group, Hyundai Engineering sign FEED contract for Bakersfield renewable diesel plant

Long Beach, California-based UrbanX Renewables Group announced June 2 that it has executed a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract with Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd. for a renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) biorefinery in Bakersfield, California. The project, the exact location for which UrbanX said it will soon disclose, is being scaled at between 75 and 81 million gallons per year.

“This is the right fuel at the right time,” said Bruce Melgar, UrbanX president. “Its benefits to the environment and its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are important climate change advantages, as well as larger ecological gains. For example, renewable diesel cuts lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions up to 85 percent.”

The company says it will produce renewable diesel from vegetable oil, fats and waste cooking oils through a proprietary process.

Melgar said UrbanX holds license for the Chevron Lummus Global Isoconversion process developed jointly with Applied Research Associates. “UrbanX’s distinctive methodology first produces a renewable crude and then refines it into renewable diesel, standing apart from other renewable fuel products,” the company stated.

UrbanX is partnering with Total-Western, Paramount, an industrial contractor that will assist with construction of the plant. IQA Solutions of Long Beach is also providing engineering and design services.

“UrbanX has a long history in sustainable technology, from harvesting of greases from wastewater streams to the production of biofuels,” the company stated.