SquareOne Energy, LLC announced the development of its initial discarded and used oil recycling facility in the Philadelphia region, the first to serve the northeast U.S. and mid-Atlantic markets.
The facility will feature the most advanced process in the re-refining industry and create a holistically sustainable approach for re-energizing wasted oil. The company will accomplish this by converting a wide array of used oils and other waste hydrocarbon streams into clean transportation fuel products, primarily ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). SquareOne’s ULSD, which will meet Colonial Pipeline specifications, will be available for immediate delivery into vehicles, transportation pipelines, and marine vessels, making SquareOne the first facility in the nation to recycle discarded oil into high quality on-road fuel.
SquareOne’s facility will be constructed on an active refined products terminal site in the Philadelphia region owned and operated by PBF Logistics LP and PBF Energy Inc. PBF’s terminal, located in Paulsboro, NJ, provides the company strong benefits from its existing infrastructure, multiple modes of transport access and comprehensive utilities, substantially reducing the development cost of the company’s new recycling facility. By leveraging the significant advantages of the existing infrastructure, the facility is expected to be operational in the first half of 2024.
SquareOne is a Philadelphia-based independent enterprise formed to create a progressive solution to address the critical issue of used oil disposal and processing in the U.S. The company recognizes the existing used oil re-refining industry needs an innovative approach to a) broaden the waste streams that are recycled and b) advance the products created from these feedstock materials. According to government studies, as much as one-third of used oil is either burned or illegally disposed, causing significant environmental harm to the ground and waterways. As such, significant energy potential from these previously refined hydrocarbons is wasted. As the country aggressively pursues steps towards energy transition to a cleaner future, so must the used oil re-refining space, which SquareOne is addressing through its advanced recycling process and move beyond existing, less complex technologies in the industry.
The company’s facility design will have a sophisticated front end and pre-treatment stage, which will enable the facility to accept and process numerous types of recyclable feedstocks, many of which are currently being improperly disposed. SquareOne’s wider array of recyclable feedstocks differentiate it from the existing re-refiners that traditionally only process used motor oil. Acceptable feedstock materials, in addition to used motor oil, will also include residual marine oils and more unmarketable material (unusable distillates combined with gasoline) as well as various other off-spec and distressed hydrocarbons.
SquareOne will also license proven technology for its facility, delivering the cleanest set of product yields in the U.S. re-refining industry. The company’s primary product will be pipeline-spec ULSD, with associated products including low sulfur naphtha and high viscosity Group III base oil blendstock.
John Sadlowski, President and Chief Executive Officer of SquareOne, stated, “We are very excited to confidently move forward on the development of our state-of-the-art recycling facility which will better serve the industry and provide a long overdue environmentally focused solution for processing used oil and other discarded energy. Our Philadelphia facility will be the first used oil recycling operation in the Northeastern U.S. as well as the most advanced and capable recycling asset in the country, processing a broad spectrum of feedstock streams for our local communities into clean fuel products much needed by the transportation industry.
“We are fortunate to have partnered with strong organizations in PBF and Sunoco, who have enabled us to take critical steps towards full operation of our facility. SquareOne is committed to providing a highly sophisticated and practical solution to capture and transform waste oil into cleaner energy, while supporting our local communities through proper outlets for used oil disposal and creating new job opportunities. After years of support and dedication from our company’s management, operating team and capital partners, we are fully prepared to execute our plan to build our initial facility and are already pursuing additional opportunities in other regions where similar innovative solutions are needed.”