Biofuels Processing Technicians

Moderate Risk
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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
3.6/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

51% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coaching and developing others

Quite important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 2 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Biofuels Processing Technicians will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Plant and System Operators, All Other was $61,710 ($30 per hour).

The median annual wage for Plant and System Operators, All Other was 24.7% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Plant and System Operators, All Other' job openings is expected to rise 1.6% by 2034

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 15,950 people employed as 'Plant and System Operators, All Other' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 9 thousand people are employed as 'Plant and System Operators, All Other'.

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What people are saying (1)

Todd (Low)
12 Oct 2024 16:46
The robots that will be needed to perform these jobs are going to be extremely expensive, they will have to be very strong, and very durable. They will have to be able to perform at significant heights, and there is zero room for error in this field. They will be working quite literally 24/7 in the rain, cold, and heat. They will have to be able to survive hurricanes, and be able to withstand working next to vessels that have stuff over 1,000°F inside. A lot of stuff that happens in refineries doesn’t make sense and a lot of stuff on written procedures are wrong, these robots will not just have to be able to climb, have great strength, survive hurricanes, survive freezes, survive extreme heat, they will also have to be top of the line artificial intelligence to solve difficult problems, and right now Ai is not refined enough to solve everyday problems that process operators have to deal with. Not only will they have to solve difficult problems, but if they solve the problem wrong just one single time they could create explosions that will destroy towns and themselves.
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Job description

Calculate, measure, load, mix, and process refined feedstock with additives in fermentation or reaction process vessels and monitor production process. Perform, and keep records of, plant maintenance, repairs, and safety inspections.

O*NET-SOC code: 51-8099.01