French vegetable oils and biofuels producer Saipol has received its first shipment of Nuseed Carinata from Argentina for processing into biodiesel.
The grain shipment was received at Saipol’s processing plant in Rouen, France, global seed company Nuseed said on 8 June.
Grown as a scalable cover crop in Argentina, the oilseed will be processed into renewable fuel by Saipol, the main subsidiary of French agro-industrial group Avril.
Nuseed said that carinata’s use as a biofuel feedstock leading to substantial carbon reduction had been confirmed by an independent SCS Global audit and certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB).
“Factors that contribute to Nuseed Carinata’s excellent greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction include its high biomass and carbon sequestration from the atmosphere to the soil, as well as the fact that it is grown in rotation with other crops and does not require additional farmland,” RSB’s executive director Rolf Hogan said.
Nuseed added carinata to its global portfolio in November 2019, following a successful pilot project in Argentina. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian agricultural chemical company Nufarm, which is headquartered in Melbourne.
Founded in 1983, Avril’s primary focus is the economic development of oilseed products – rapeseed, sunflower and soyabean – and protein products – peas. In 2014, Avril processed half of the rapeseed and sunflowerseed collected in France.
