Neste Oil opens Rotterdam plant

Neste Oil has commissioned its Rotterdam facility to produce hydrated vegetable oil (HVO), opening it on 19 December 2011.

This follows the opening of productiion in Singapore and Finland, adding a further 800,000 tonnes to its capacity and bringing the total output to two million tonnes of HVO.

The Rotterdam refinery produces NExBTL renewable diesel, Neste Oil’s own type of diesel, and is now employing 150 people.

‘Through hard work and cooperation among nearly 15 partners we have built this Europe's largest and finest renewable diesel refinery in just two years. As a location, the Port of Rotterdam has fulfilled all our expectations. It is centrally located in terms of our product and feedstock flows as well as within close proximity to our key markets and customers in Europe,’ says Matti Lievonen, president of Neste Oil.

The refinery is ISCC-certified, cost around €670 million to build and the amount of diesel that is produced on the site will be enough for about half a million cars to run on each year, which will reduce GHG by about 1.5 million tonnes a year.

The refinery is able to take feedstocks such as algae oil and has joined forces with AlgaePARC to develop and grow microalgae on an industrial scale size.

Neste also plans to build a pilot plant which will use waste-based microbial oil on the site of its Porvoo refinery, which is anticipated to be the first plant of its kind in Euope that will produce microbial oil for use in manufacturing renewable fuel from waste-based raw materials.