Finnish Neste targets over 2 mil mt/y of biodiesel plants by 2016

Finnish Neste targets over 2 mil mt/y of biodiesel plants by 2016
Platts (subscription) - USA
London (Platts)--27Sep2006 Finnish refiner Neste Oil said Wednesday it plans to become the world's biggest biodiesel producer over the next decade using its in ...

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Finnish refiner Neste Oil said Wednesday it plans to become the world's
biggest biodiesel producer over the next decade using its in-house,
biomass-to-liquids technology to make clean, renewable diesel fuels.
Neste, which owns Finland's export-orientated Porvvo and Naantali
refineries, said it expects to invest "several billion euros" in building both
its traditional refining and second-generation biodiesel business over the
next 10 years.
Its new biodiesel projects would total at least 2 million mt/year (40,000
b/d) in installed capacity over 10 years, a company official said.
"We will build several biodiesel production facilities in various market
areas, either alone or with partners, in the years to come," CEO Risto Rinne
said in a statement. "In addition, we will be even more active in research and
development in the biofuels area to utilize different renewable raw
materials."
The company is currently looking to build a plant in the US, but recent
press reports of a project in California were "premature", a company official
said.
Neste NExBTL biomass-to-liquids technology is capable of producing
high-quality diesel fuel from a variety of renewable raw materials, such as
vegetable oil and animal fat.
Using a different chemical process than the existing methyl-ester
biodiesel produced from oil-crops such as rapeseed or soybeans, BTL projects
can process a much wider range of raw materials, especially waste, and often
have a much lower well-to-wheels CO2 profile than other liquid fuel options.
Neste is in talks with OMV to build a second-generation biodiesel plant
together at the Austrian company's 208,000 b/d Schwechat refinery near Vienna.
The large-scale plant would be capable of producing some 200,000 mt/yr of
biodiesel, with production starting at the end of 2008 at the earliest.
Last year, Neste also signed a memorandum of understanding with Total to
build a 200,000 mt/y jointly-owned biodiesel plant at Total's Dunkirk refinery
in northern France.
The first 170,000 mt/yr plant based on Neste's technology is due to come
on stream in mid-2007 at its 200,000 b/d Porvoo refinery in Finland.
The European Union's biofuels directive has targeted a minimum level of
biofuels as a proportion of fuels sold in the EU of 5.75% by 2010 and 20% by
2020. The EU is keen to promote the use of biofuels as part of commitments to
cut emissions of CO2 by the transport sector and reduce Europe's dependence on
imported oil.

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