Finnish renewable fuels producer Neste has announced it is aiming to set up an algae pilot production facility in Spain in a bid to increase the company’s supply of raw materials.
Still in its planning phase, no final investment decision had been made on the project, the company said on 16 February.
“By harnessing algae as part of our future raw material pool, we continue to diversify Neste’s renewable raw material portfolio with new types of scalable and sustainable raw materials. The pilot in Spain will lay the foundation for advanced research and commercialisation of algae and related technologies,” Neste executive vice president, Innovation, Lars Peter Lindfors said.
“Algae… offers a high biomass yield and the opportunity to be developed on non-arable lands… with a possibility to utilise sea water. Due to its… greenhouse gas emission saving ability, EU and US regulations support algae as a low-emission raw material for renewable fuels, polymers and chemicals.”
With over 15 years of experience in algae research and development, including numerous lab and field experiments, Neste said Spain was chosen as the potential location for the pilot project due to its local algae expertise, favourable environment and central location.
Meanwhile, Neste said it had introduced renewable or re-refined lubricants in Finland, Sweden, the Baltic countries and Poland.
Products in the new ReNew lubricant range were produced with renewable or re-refined base oils and high-quality additives, the company said on 27 February.
“Neste’s goal is to help customers reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20M tonnes/year by 2030 with renewable and circular economy solutions. Both our corporate and private customers consider it important to curb climate change with solutions based on renewable raw materials, renewable energy and the circular economy. The new Neste ReNew lubricant product family complements our offering of more sustainable solutions,” Joni Pihlström, B2B sales lead in Neste’s marketing & services business unit in Finland, said.
Adding to Neste’s existing lubricant solutions, the ReNew range included motor oils for gasoline and diesel car/van/hybrid engines, universal tractor oil and hydraulic oils for agriculture and machinery, the company said.
“The new Neste ReNew lubricants are a drop-in solution with which one can replace most lubricants of corresponding performance,” Pihlström added.
