The Verborg Group officially opened its new refinery in Farmsum, northern Netherlands, on 14 June, industry sources reported.
The site in the Chemport Europe region formerly housed the Nedalco bio-ethanol plant, with an additional 15,000m³ of tank storage space added at storage and logistics firm Contitank, which would handle the logistics of the refinery, the company said.
The 200,000 tonnes/year refinery was built in a record 13 months, managing director Goedhart Borgesius was reported as saying in a 16 February Chemport Europe report.
The Verborg Group - a joint venture of brothers John and Goedhart Borgesius and Hedde Verhagen - refined and processed vegetable oils, including coconut, palm and palm kernel oils, Chemport Europe wrote.
“We use tropical oils and fats as raw materials. The supply of these mainly comes by ship. In the factory, the oils are then purified without chemicals and with the help of steam to obtain pure oil,” Borgesius was quoted as saying.
“The remaining fractions after purification can be reused for technical purposes such as biodiesel.”
After purification, the products were delivered, mainly by truck locally in the Benelux area.
Products produced by the company included lubricants that come into contact with food during production processes and a semi-finished product for the candle industry as an alternative to fossil paraffin, Borgesius said in the Chemport Europe report.
