Carbon Index and Feedstock Tracking

Carbon Index Tracing

Increasingly, companies are expected to comply with circular economy requirements. The world is progressively adopting renewable feedstocks as low carbon energy sources to mitigate climate change. However, the goal isn't just to minimize the carbon footprint at one asset, but across the entire supply chain. But this process can be tedious and time consuming due to the complex nature of the site's fluctuations in the market and the short term obligations imposed by authorities. In this context, data is one of the most important assets for accurate and timely decision-making. Oil and gas, and chemical facilities, are storehouses of valuable information, but this data is only as useful as its quality, accessibility, and shareability allow.

Production Accounting Feedstock Tracking

KBC's Visual MESA Production Accounting model represents the mass balance of the site covering the assets and operations, including receipts, shipments, storage tanks, process units, and fuel consumptions. This model is reconciled daily and allows the generation of standard accounting reports, including inventory, material balance, net production, hydrocarbon losses, receipts, shipments, etc. On top of the accounting, balance, and reconciliation functions, as a core functionality relevant to renewable/tolling operations, the accounting model allows tracing Carbon Index (CI) and products back to the origin of feed (both by feedstock type (i.e., yellow grease, white grease, lard, corn oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, etc.) and by tolling ownership (i.e., owner 1, owner 2, etc.) if applicable). In addition, this information can be exported to other applications for CI credit calculations and transactions.

There are several globally leading certification systems. Some offer two chains of custody options to address sustainability requirements and obtain certification. Materials are either physically segregated in production processes throughout the supply chain (“physical segregation”) or mixed in production but separated in bookkeeping (“mass balance approach”). Over the past years, the mass balance approach has prevailed in the chemical industry. Visual MESA Production Accounting makes it possible to track the amount and sustainability characteristics of circular and/or bio-based content in the value chain and attribute it based on verifiable bookkeeping as certification authorities demand.

A Visual MESA Production Accounting model can be used to generate alphanumeric codes Renewable Identification Numbers (RIN) codes and keep track of them across the supply chain. The way the renewable fuels standard is enforced is through RINs. RINs are generated at a biofuel plant. Every time a gallon of biofuel is produced, a RIN is generated. Blending obligations or RVO (Renewable Volume Obligations) are incurred any time non-renewable fuels are imported or produced at a typical refinery. Biofuel plants produce the biofuel and the RINs; once the biofuel is sold, whoever has those RINs can separate them to comply with the RVOs obligations or trade them.