CSX to serve new Oleo-X plant in Mississippi

Oleo-X on Monday opened a renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel feedstock merchant pretreatment facility on a CSX-served brownfield site in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The facility has the potential to produce up to 300 million gallons of premium feedstock per year leveraging a breakthrough in pretreatment technology to formulate "exceptionally clean, high-quality feedstocks" for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel producers, CSX officials said in a press release.

Oleo-X's innovation widens the pool of renewable energy feedstocks by enabling the processing of low-carbon, inedible oils — including poultry fat — without blending in high-quality oils taken from the food industry, they said.

"By choosing rail as a major supply-chain partner, Oleo-X is supporting its vision for a sustainable planet by taking advantage of the safest, most fuel-efficient mode of land-based transportation," said Christina Bottomley, CSX vice president of real estate and industrial development.

The new facility is located in a former Chemours First Chemical plant, where chemicals for tires, dyes and building materials were produced. The company "invested substantially" to revamp and expand the site to one that supports "a more sustainable future," CSX officials said.