Key Takeaways:

  • HVO 100 is a renewable diesel alternative produced from waste and residue sources like used vegetable oil and animal fats.
  • Benefits of using HVO 100 over conventional diesel include reduced air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% depending on feedstock.
  • HVO 100 works well for diesel engines, with little to no modification needed in most cases. It has similar storage and handling requirements as diesel.
  • Supply still limits more widespread HVO 100 adoption but production capacity is growing globally as refineries come online and supply chains expand.

Replacing Diesel with Renewable HVO 100 Fuel

As corporations and governments take increasing efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change, renewable energy alternatives are essential across all sectors. For diesel-powered transport and machinery, one of the most promising fossil fuel replacements is HVO 100.

What is HVO 100?

HVO 100 is a paraffinic renewable diesel fuel produced by hydrotreating vegetable oils, waste oils, and waste animal fats. The hydrotreatment process uses hydrogen to remove oxygen and transform these fats and oils into branched hydrocarbon chains like those in petroleum diesel, creating what’s termed a “drop-in” fuel.

Also sold under the brand names Renewable Diesel 100 and Neste MY Renewable DieselTM, HVO 100 is essentially chemically identical to conventional, fossil-derived diesel fuels. This makes it highly compatible with existing diesel engines and fuel distribution infrastructure, requiring little to no engine modifications to utilize.

Reducing Emissions Dramatically

The largest environmental benefit to using HVO 100 over conventional diesel comes from slashing air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, supporting corporate and governmental climate goals.

Compared to fossil diesel, HVO 100 can reduce particulate emissions by 30% thanks to no aromatic compounds or sulfur content. NOx emissions during engine combustion are also lowered by up to 10% running on pure HVO 100.

Most dramatically, renewable HVO diesel cuts carbon emissions by a staggering 80-90% on a lifecycle basis depending on the feedstock used compared to traditional crude oil-based diesel. Waste feedstocks like used cooking oil result in the largest total carbon reductions.

High Compatibility and Performance

Beyond emission improvements, HVO 100 offers nearly identical combustion and storage properties compared to standard diesel, resulting in superb existing engine compatibility and performance.

Storage stability, water tolerance, viscosity, lubricity, flash point and corrosion characteristics are all nearly equal between renewable HVO 100 diesel and fossil diesel. And HVO 100 meets or exceeds all ASTM D975 diesel fuel standards in North America and EN590 standards in Europe.

These similarities mean diesel engines require virtually no modifications to burn HVO 100 as a direct replacement in any ratio combined with regular diesel fuel. Though running fully on HVO 100 provides the most dramatic emission reductions along with lower risk of degradation from biomass residue buildup over long-term usage.

Expanding Production and Adoption

With supply chain disruptions in recent years making energy security a pressing concern for corporations and governments, increased adoption of renewable domestic fuels like HVO 100 helps mitigate reliance on imported fossil energy sources prone to volatility.

HVO production capacity is rapidly growing across Europe, Asia, North America to meet early corporate adopter demand, like transport giant UPS using over 94 million gallons of renewable diesel in its fleet since 2014. Multiple airlines have begun blending HVO 100 on test flights to evaluate feasibility as well.

And major expansions of waste-to-HVO projects are underway, including Phillips 66’s planned new plant in Washington State and Marathon Petroleum’s Salt Lake City facility conversion starting production in 2023.

Yet despite strong growth trends, limited supply still poses challenges to more rapid HVO 100 adoption. But numerous projects in planning and development phases signal production will scale further in coming years as environmental pressures and fuel diversity demands continue rising.

Renewable HVO 100 diesel offers diesel fleet and machinery owners a readily available pathway to dramatically improve environmental performance and support aggressive carbon reduction goals with minimal operational changes needed thanks to full diesel engine compatibility.

While supply constraints currently temper the pace of HVO diesel displacing significant fossil diesel volumes near term, forthcoming production ramp ups will likely accelerate adoption as stakeholders across transport sectors make increasingly bold sustainability commitments.