Systems and methods for holistic low carbon intensity fuel production

A system to operate a transportation fuel production facility for distribution of a low carbon intensity (CI) transportation fuel therefrom and obtained through one or more targeted reductions of carbon emissions (CE), the system comprising:

• a controller to control one or more various transportation fuel production processes to be operated at one or more transportation fuel production facilities, the controller including one or more processors and memory storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, to:
• (I) determine a feedstock CI for each of one or more available feedstocks from one or more available feedstock sources to be supplied to the one or more transportation fuel production facilities from one or more available feedstock transportation pathways, the one or more available feedstock sources including a regenerative farm and the one or more available feedstocks including a crop from the regenerative farm,
• (II) for each one or more available feedstocks:
• (a) determine a feedstock transportation CI for each of one or more available feedstock transportation pathways based on:
• (1) a volume of a feedstock transportation pathway,
• (2) fuel type utilized by the feedstock transportation pathway, and
• (3) distance to travel to the one or more transportation fuel production facility,
• (b) determine a transportation fuel production process CI for each of one or more transportation fuel production processes based on:
• (1) one or more available transportation fuel production processes available at the one or more transportation fuel production facilities, one of the one or more available transportation fuel production processes including pre-processing the feedstock, via crushing crop segregates, thereby to form oil,
• (2) a type of feedstock of the one or more available feedstocks,
• (3) a type of oil formed during pre-processing of the type of feedstock, and
• (3) a yield of each one or more available transportation fuel production processes,
• (c) determine a utilities CI for each of one or more utilities based on:
• (1) a type of utility to be used during a transportation fuel production process and
• (2) a utilities' source,
• (d) determine a transportation fuel distribution CI for each of one or more available transportation distribution pathways based on:
• (1) a volume of a transportation fuel distribution pathway,
• (2) a type of the transportation fuel distribution pathway,
• (3) fuel type utilized by the transportation fuel distribution pathway, and
• (4) distance to travel for a delivery of transportation fuel,
• (e) determine a set of combinations, each of the set of combinations including:
• (1) one or more available feedstocks,
• (2) one or more available feedstock transportation pathways,
• (3) one or more transportation fuel production processes of one or more transportation fuel production facilities,
• (4) one or more utilities, and
• (5) one or more available transportation fuel distribution pathways, and
• (f) determine a total CI for each of the set of combinations based on:
• (1) a volume of the one or more available feedstocks,
• (2) a yield from the one or more transportation fuel production processes,
• (3) the determined feedstock CI,
• (4) the determined feedstock transportation CI,
• (5) the determined transportation fuel production process CI,
• (6) the determined utilities CI, and
• (7) the determined transportation fuel distribution CI,
• (III) determine a final selection from the set of combinations including a total CI less than or equal to a threshold CI, the threshold CI being defined as an upper limit of CI in providing transportation fuel to an end user location that qualifies the transportation fuel as a low CI transportation fuel, the final selection including:
• (a) a selected one or more available feedstocks,
• (b) a selected one or more feedstock transportation pathways,
• (c) a selected one or more transportation fuel production processes of one or more transportation fuel production facilities,
• (d) a selected one or more utilities, and
• (e) a selected one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways,
• (IV) in response to the final selection, transmit a feedstock request based on the selected one or more available feedstocks and the selected one or more feedstock transportation pathways,
• (V) in response to a determined reception of the selected one or more available feedstock at the one or more transportation fuel production facilities, initiate, at the controller, the selected one or more transportation fuel production processes of the one or more transportation fuel production processes, and the selected one or more utilities to operate the selected one or more transportation fuel production processes, thereby to transform the selected one or more available feedstock to transportation fuel, and
• (VI) in response to determination of completion of the selected one or more transportation fuel production processes, transmit a delivery request of the transportation fuel via the selected one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways.

A controller to operate one or more transportation fuel production facilities for distribution of a low carbon intensity (CI) transportation fuel therefrom and obtained through one or more targeted reductions of carbon emissions (CE), the controller comprising:

• a first input/output in signal communication with a procurement computing device, such that the controller is configured to:
• determine a selection of one or more available feedstocks, a selection of one or more feedstock transportation pathways, a selection of one or more transportation fuel production processes at one or more transportation fuel production facilities, a selection of one or more utilities, and a selection of one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways, each selection based on:
• a determination of feedstock CI of one or more blends of the one or more available feedstocks based on volume and type of feedstock and based on a CI associated with procuring a feedstock, at least one of the one or more available feedstocks comprises a crop from a regenerative farm,
• a determination of feedstock transportation CI of one or more feedstock transportation pathways based on delivery distance and fuel type of the feedstock transportation pathway,
• a determination of transportation fuel production process CI of one or more transportation fuel production processes at one or more transportation fuel production facilities based on the type of transportation fuel production process, the volume and type of feedstock, and the length of time of the transportation fuel production process, at least one of the one or more transportation fuel production processes including pre-processing a feedstock, via crushing of crop segregates, thereby to produce an oil,
• a determination of utility CI of one or more utilities based on the type of utility utilized to operate the one or more transportation fuel production processes and a distance the one or more utilities travel to the one or more transportation fuel production processes,
• a determination of transportation fuel distribution CI of one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways based on delivery distance and fuel type of a transportation fuel distribution pathway, and
• a determination of one or more total CIs less than the threshold CI, the total CIs based on varying combinations of the determinations of CI,
• in response to the selection of the one or more available feedstocks, the selection of one or more feedstock transportation pathways, the selection of one or more transportation fuel production processes at one or more transportation fuel production processes, the selection of one or more utilities, and the selection of one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways:
• transmit a feedstock request to the procurement computing device, the feedstock request including the selection of the one or more available feedstocks and the selection of the one or more feedstock transportation pathways;
• a second input/output in signal communication with a transportation fuel production facility controller, the transportation fuel production facility controller to control one or more various transportation fuel production processes to be operated at the one or more transportation fuel production facilities, such that the controller is configured to:
• in response to a determined reception of the selected one or more available feedstock at the one or more transportation fuel production facilities:
• determine actual feedstock CI and actual feedstock transportation CI,
• in response to a determination that the actual feedstock CI and actual feedstock transportation CI has increased in relation to the determined feedstock CI and determined feedstock transportation CI, determine one or more of a new selection of one or more transportation fuel production processes, a new selection of one or more utilities, and a new selection of one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways to maintain total CI, and
• initiate, at the transportation fuel production facility controller, the selected one or more transportation fuel production processes at the one or more transportation fuel production facilities and the selected one or more utilities to operate the selected one or more transportation fuel production processes at the one or more transportation fuel production facilities, thereby to transform the selected one or more available feedstocks to transportation fuel;
• and
• a third input/output in signal communication with a distribution computing device such that the controller is configured to:
• in response to determination of completion of the selected one or more transportation fuel production processes at the selected one or more transportation fuel production facilities:
• determine an actual transportation fuel production process CI and an actual utility CI,
• in response to a determination that the actual transportation fuel production process CI and actual utility CI has increased in relation to the determined transportation fuel production process CI and determined utility CI, determine one or more new selections of one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways, and
• transmit a delivery request of the transportation fuel via the selection of the one or more transportation fuel distribution pathways to the distribution computing device.

A method to provide low carbon intensity transportation fuel, the low carbon intensity transportation fuel obtained through one or more targeted reductions of carbon emissions, the method comprising:

• determining a carbon intensity threshold to define an upper limit for carbon intensity of transportation fuel to be provided to an end user location;
• determining two or more feedstocks that are procured at two or more sources, the two or more feedstock being selected to reduce carbon emissions associated therewith and thereby maintain the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel below the carbon intensity threshold, at least one of the two or more sources being a regenerative farm, a feedstock from the regenerative farm being a crop, the crop being one or more of corn, soy beans, or other vegetables or grains including sufficient amounts of oil;
• determining a transportation pathway to transport the two or more feedstocks from the source to a transportation fuel production facility, the transportation pathway being selected to reduce carbon emissions associated therewith and thereby maintain the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel below the carbon intensity threshold;
• determining one or more transportation fuel production processes to reduce carbon emissions and thereby maintain the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel below the carbon intensity threshold, the one or more transportation fuel production processes selected from a group including:
• powering at least a portion of transportation fuel production facility equipment with electricity generated proximal to the transportation fuel production facility through a renewable source, burning renewable natural gas in a transportation fuel production facility furnace, generating steam through renewable natural gas-fed boilers, and sequestering carbon dioxide produced during the transportation fuel production process;
• determining a distribution pathway to transport a quantity of the transportation fuel from the transportation fuel production facility to the end user location, the distribution pathway being selected to reduce carbon emissions associated therewith and thereby maintain the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel below the carbon intensity threshold;
• pre-processing the feedstock from the regenerative farm, via crushing crop segregates, thereby to produce oil;
• processing the oil into renewable transportation fuel together with operating the selected one or more transportation fuel production processes;
• blending the renewable transportation fuel with an additional transportation fuel, thereby to produce a transportation fuel;
• determining the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel associated with procuring the selected feedstock at the source, associated with transporting the feedstock from the source to the transportation fuel production facility by use of the selected transportation pathway, associated with processing the feedstock into transportation fuel transportation fuel together with operating the one or more transportation fuel production processes, and associated with transporting the quantity of transportation fuel to the end user location by use of the selected distribution pathway;
• verifying that the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel remains below the carbon intensity threshold for the transportation fuel to be provided to the end user location;
• generating an identifying record including one or more of (a) the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel or (b) carbon intensity of a selected feedstock, transportation pathway, one or more transportation fuel production processes, and distribution pathway associated with the transportation fuel;
• and
• outputting the transportation fuel through the selected distribution pathway as low carbon intensity transportation fuel.