Neste Oil openes world's biggest renewable diesel plant in Singapore
Giant renewable diesel plant opens in Singapore
(Courtesy: The Hindu,New Delhi, March 09, 2011)
Finnish firm Neste Oil on Tuesday opened the world's biggest renewable diesel plant in Singapore, taking advantage of massive palm oil production in nearby Malaysia and Indonesia.
Clean diesel produced from the euro 550 million ($769 million) plant using feedstocks such as palm oil and animal fat will be marketed in Europe, Canada and the U.S., which already have legislation in place supporting biofuels. “Asia in the next five years is not going to be a big market for us,'' Neste Oil Corp President and Chief Executive Matti Lievonen said at the plant's opening. With an annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes, the Singapore facility is the biggest renewable diesel plant in the world, Neste Oil said.
The plant produces Neste Oil's patented NExBTL renewable diesel, which, the company says, is the cleanest diesel fuel in the world, although it is more expensive than conventional diesel. NExBTL can be used in all diesel engines and significantly reduces exhaust emissions compared with regular diesel, the company says. About 45 per cent of the facility's feedstock is now palm oil from neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia, while the balance e comes from other by-products of the palm oil production process and waste animal fat from Australia and New Zealand.
The palm oil industry in Malaysia and Indonesia has come under pressure from environmental campaigners who believe it causes deforestation and threatens species such as orangutans and rhinos. Neste Oil said that its Singapore plant had obtained an International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) certificate from Germany, guaranteeing that it has met tough environment standards.
