R-99 Fuel Cost Implications

In the Seattle area we are typically seeing about a $2.00 - $2.50 per gallon adder for R99 over regular diesel.  (If diesel is $5/gallon, R99 would be $7 - $7.50 per gallon) In the Pacific NW region it is not available at any filling stations so we get a tank that can be filled specifically with R99.  One of the benefits of R99 is that you don't have to change any of your equipment, you can mix R99 with regular diesel, and it actually seems to run cleaner than standard diesel (great for the engines).  If anyone has a recent carbon/gallon calculation for R99, that would be great as I've not been able to find one.

We have found it varies along the West Coast. In Southern California it might be $0.10/gallon less, in the Portland area it is $0.25-$0.50/gallon more.  In Portland we have had an issue with the R99 being very inefficient, i.e., our equipment is consuming it much faster than petrochemical diesel. We had a similar problem on HS2 in London. There the supplier said they had a different grade that would perform better, which they subsequently delivered. I thought we wouldn't see that in the US since the fuel has to meet the same ASTM spec as petrochemical diesel, but apparently that isn't the case. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Lastly, we believe our fuel supplier in Portland is sourcing the R99 from Neste. We asked for an EPD for the fuel and no one could provide it. On Neste's website they say that R99 can cut lifecycle emissions by 50-90%, with no guidance provided on how to know if you are on the 50% or 90% side of things. Has anyone seen an EPD for renewable diesel?

Hi all, On one of our job sites in San Diego where we are using R99 clear diesel, our fuel supplier is providing it to us at $4.51/gallon (August invoice). Compared to dirty diesel priced at $7.73/gallon. With the R99 clear, the Federal and Cal tax must be factored in of course as well as a freight charge but, even then the total cost of R99 was still 10% cheaper than with conventional diesel for the same amount of fuel. Happy to continue this conversation with the group, especially with the new regulation around the corner. Thanks! 

Hi there, love to see the sharing, but unfortunaltey we have to shut down this particular thread.  For anti-trust reasons, one of the rules of the forum is that we can’t talk about: pricing, sales terms, market shares, sales territories—basically anything that could be construed as teaming up to the detriment of our clients or other competitors.  As a gathering of people from potentially competing companies, we are subject to these antitrust rules and have to take them seriously. Thanks for obliging us--just trying to keep us all out of trouble!