FINLAND – Producer of sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel and feedstock solutions for the polymers and chemicals industry, Neste has invested US$121.5 million to upgrade its refinery in Porvoo.
The company says this upgrade will see the facility recycle 150,000 tonnes of liquefied plastic waste into petrochemical feedstock every year.
According to Neste, new assets are set to be built, while existing assets are expected to be retrofitted and upscaled with fast and efficient recycling in mind.
The upgraded liquified plastic waste produced will be processed in the conventional refinery and hopes to replace a portion of the fossil resources processed at the refinery.
Heikki Färkkilä, vice president of chemical recycling at Neste says: “We are walking the talk on chemical recycling.
“Our processing runs provide us not only with valuable knowledge on the technologies but also serve as a proof of concept: Chemical recycling can be done on an industrial scale. Our focus continues to be getting from individual processing runs to continuous operation.”
The investment fits into Neste’s wider PULSE project, which previously received a €135 million EU Innovation Fund grant and targets a total capacity of 400,000 tonnes per year.
With the conclusion of Neste’s second series of industrial-scale processing runs in March, the company has processed approximately 3,000 tonnes of liquefied plastic since 2020.
Markku Korvenranta, executive vice president of Oil Products at Neste added: “We have developed our capability to process circular raw material at the Porvoo refinery over the recent years and are now set to build a respective facility.
“The new facility processing 150,000 tonnes of liquefied waste plastic, is planned to be finalized in the first half of 2025.”
Neste’s ambition is to make the Porvoo oil refinery in Finland the most sustainable refinery in Europe by 2030.
The company has committed to reaching carbon-neutral production by 2035 and reducing the carbon emission intensity of sold products by 50% by 2040.
Meanwhile, in April, Nested announced plans to start commercial production at its renewable fuels expansion project in Singapore, reports Reuters.
The plant will boost Neste’s sustainable aviation fuel capacity by up to 1 million tonnes per year, in addition to a 500,000 tonnes per year project at their Rotterdam plant.
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