Neste Oil announced that the construction of its new NExBTL renewable diesel plant at Tuas in Singapore, is 90% completed and will be ready for operations by the end of the year. This €550 million plant will be the largest in the world with an annual capacity of 800,000 metric tons.
Mr Matti Lievonen, President and CEO of Neste Oil Corporation said: “With the construction of our NExBTL renewable diesel plant in Singapore into its final stages, we are the world’s leading provider of renewable diesel. We see Singapore developing into the Asian center for biofuels, and Neste Oil’s investment here will contribute to this development.”
The NExBTL renewable diesel is fully compatible with existing diesel engines and will meet the demand for cleaner traffic fuels, especially from European countries due to the EU directive that sets a target for traffic fuels to contain at least 10% from renewable content by 2020. Neste Oil estimates that the market for the renewable diesel is at least 35 million tons in 2020.
Neste Oil’s NExBTL technology allows the use of any vegetable oil and animal fats to be used as feedstock in the production process. The new plant in Singapore will be using palm oil and palm oil derivatives sourced from the region such as Malaysia and Indonesia. There are also plans to use animal fats as feedstock in the future.
Neste Oil claims that the NExBTL renewable diesel is the cleanest renewable diesel available today and compared to conventional diesel, it produces:
- 40-80% less greenhouse gas emissions over the product’s entire life cycle
- 10% less nitrogen oxides
- 28% less particulate matter
- 28% less carbon monoxide
- 50% less hydrocarbons
Responding to questions about the environmental impacts of palm oil plantations, Mr Lievonen said that Neste Oil is committed to environmental responsibility, its palm oil suppliers are expected to act responsibly, and they will follow principles by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
NExBTL Process Plant
Tank farm area for feedstock and intermediate products
Source and image credit: Neste Oil
