Neste Oil celebrated the grand opening of its ISCC-certified renewable diesel plant in Singapore.
The start-up of the Singapore plant, which produces NExBTL renewable diesel, took place in November 2010; production at the world’s largest renewable diesel plant has run smoothly since.
The plant has a capacity of 800,000 metric tons per annum, and cost around €550 million to build. It uses a variety of renewable feedstocks to produce NExBTL, including palm oil and side stream products of palm oil production from Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as waste animal fat from Australia and New Zealand.
Neste Oil has a similar-sized facility under construction in Rotterdam, which is due to be commissioned in mid-2011. The company already operates two renewable diesel plants that came on stream at Porvoo in Finland in 2007 and 2009 with a combined capacity of 380,000 metric tons per annum. After the start-up of Rotterdam plant, the production capacity of Neste Oil’s renewable diesel plants totals approximately 2 million metric tons annually. The main markets for NExBTL diesel are Europe and North America.
Singapore refinery to receive ISCC certification. At the end of January 2011, Neste Oil’s Singapore refinery was ISCC (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification) certified. More specifically, the certificate confirms that NExBTL renewable diesel produced at the Singapore refinery from certified raw materials, such as from ISCC certified palm oil, meets the strict sustainability criteria based on the EU’s renewable energy directive (RED) and is suitable for meeting bio-content mandates on the German market. The ISCC system, specific to the German market, is approved by the German Federal Office of Agriculture and Food (BLE). Neste Oil’s Porvoo refinery in Finland has already been ISCC certified in November 2010.