Marathon Petroleum has announced that fleets at its Vinvale and East Hynes, Calif., locations have transitioned to using renewable diesel. The move was made to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and “contribute to a cleaner future,” the company noted in a press release.
Previously, in 2023, two Marathon Petroleum Transport and Rail (T&R) fleets and two locomotives at the Marathon Petroleum Los Angeles refinery, which are supported by T&R, switched from using traditional diesel fuel to renewable diesel.
How They Did It
In 2021, Marathon Petroleum began transitioning its ARCO retail sites to renewable diesel. The terminals started replacing CARB diesel — a specific grade of diesel fuel required by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) — with renewable diesel.
The Marathon Petroleum fleets refuel their trucks at the load racks and have access to renewable diesel because Marathon is supplying it to its customers. Now, 35 trucks are operating on renewable diesel in the Los Angeles area.
In 2023, the rail team began fueling the locomotives at a 50-50 mixture with regular diesel and renewable diesel before completely transitioning to 100% renewable diesel.
“At first, drivers asked lots of questions about renewable diesel and if it would have some of the negative effects on the operations of the trucks like biodiesel did in the past,” said Timothy Sweeney, transport maintenance supervisor. “We assured them that this was different. Since we have switched, the drivers haven’t seen any decrease in power, performance or operations.”
Renewable diesel is an alternative to traditional diesel fuel made from a variety of renewable feedstocks, such as vegetable oil, animal fats and waste cooking oils. It is processed to be chemically the same as traditional diesel and can be used to operate any traditional diesel engine without modifications.