MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol has selected Axens Vegan technology for its first production plant for advanced biofuels in Spain at its Cartagena refinery, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.
This new plant will be capable of producing 250,000 TPA of biodiesel, biojet, bionaphtha, and biopropane. Repsol’s project outlines Axens’ expertise in hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO) and its commitment to power sustainability in transport.
Vegan technology is able to hydrotreat a wide range of lipids and to produce low-density and high cetane renewable diesel as well as renewable sulfur-free jet fuel. This renewable fuels technology allows producers to effectively address today’s environmental regulations and secure energy diversification with drop-in premium quality products.
The scope of Axens’ work includes the supply of process books, catalysts & adsorbents, proprietary equipment, trainings and technical services.
“This advanced biofuels plant is a step forward in Repsol’s commitment to become a net zero carbon company in 2050. Repsol is promoting different technological options for sectors of transport where electrification is not a technically viable option. This adds to renewable hydrogen and synthetic fuels projects that provide new routes towards carbon neutrality in transport”, stated Repsol.
“Axens is excited to work with Repsol, providing Vegan technology for this advanced biofuels plant in Cartagena. This award further strengthens Axens’ technology position for sustainable and renewable biofuels. Repsol will benefit from a notable know-how backed by 50 years of experience in middle distillates hydro-treatment and hydrocracking/hydro-isomerization along with support in technology, services and state-of-the-art catalysts developed, manufactured and provided by Axens”, said Patrick Sarrazin, Axens’ executive vice-president, Process Licensing Global Business Unit.
As MRC reported previously, Spanish refiner Repsol took its fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at Corunna offline in April and reported no change in the situation as of October 2, 2020. At Bilbao, Crude 2 unit, which was taken offline May 9 due to market reasons, is still offline, the company said October 2. The unit is expected to stay offline until market conditions warrant. The halt has affected 40% of the refinery's crude distillation and also includes the visbreaking unit.
We remind that Repsol shut down its cracker in Tarragona (Spain) for maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2019. The turnaround at this steam cracker, which produces 702,000 mt/year of ethylene and 372,000 mt/year of propylene, was pushed back from Q3 2019. The exact dates of maintenance works were not disclosed.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC