Renewable Energy Alternative Fuels

11/06/2010 (Biofuels Digest) In Brussels, the EU Energy Commissioner presented the EU’s proposed guidelines on sustainable biofuels. The package includes three primary principles:

1. Sustainable Biofuel Certificates: The Commission encourages industry, governments and NGOs to set up “voluntary schemes” to certify biofuel sustainability – and explains the standards these must meet to gain EU recognition.

2. Protecting untouched nature: The Communication explains that biofuels should not be made from raw materials from tropical forests or recently deforested areas, drained peatland, wetland or highly biodiverse areas – and how this should be assessed. It makes it clear that the conversion of a forest to a palm oil plantation would fall foul of the sustainability requirements.

3. Promote only biofuels with high greenhouse gas savings: The Communication reiterates that Member States have to meet binding, national targets for renewable energy and that only those biofuels with high greenhouse gas savings count for the national targets, explaining also how this is calculated. Biofuels must deliver greenhouse gas savings of at least 35% compared to fossil fuels, rising to 50% in 2017 and to 60%, for biofuels from new plants, in 2018.

Visionary policy, or ‘green protectionism’?

In Washington, the pro-development NGO World Growth underscored a growing body of research which shows palm oil is the most efficient vegetable oil for biofuel and rejected the mischaracterization that conversion of forests for palm oil leads to widespread increases in emissions.

Chairman Alan Oxley, former Ambassador to the GATT, issued the following statement: “No matter how the Commission tries to dress up its policy on biofuels, Brussels is denying to European consumers effective, low cost, and — in the case of palm-based biofuel — environmentally sustainable products. The root cause is reversion by the European Union to its timeworn practice of using protectionist measures to block agricultural imports and hinder production in developing countries.”

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (Reuters) - Neste Oil could buy 2.4 million to 2.5 million tonnes of vegetable oils for four biofuel plants, putting the Finnish refiner on par with consumer goods giant Unilever as a top vegetable oil buyer.

The bulk of Neste Oil's vegetable oil purchases will come from palm oil, currently the cheapest in the world.

Here are some facts about Neste Oil and its growing palm oil use.

Neste Oil has developed biofuel technology that allows flexible use of any vegetable oil or animal fat for producing its NExBTL fuel. The fuel does not need to be blended with fossil diesel and can be used as it is for the transport sector.

Palm oil will make up the bulk of the refiner's feedstock. Analysts say this may narrow palm oil's discount to soyoil below $100 a tonne.

In Finland, Neste Oil has two plants producing NExBTL, which has been marketed as the world's cleanest fuel. The combined capacity of the factories stand at 350,000 tonnes.

Neste Oil has invested a combined 1.22 billion euros to build one biofuel plant in Singapore and another in Rotterdam that each have a capacity of 800,000 tonnes. The Singapore plant will be completed in 2010 and the Rotterdam factory in 2011.

The firm is part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) -- a grouping of planters and consumers who have developed a certification system that includes commitments to preserve wildlife and forests when expanding estates.

Neste Oil, which has committed to use only certified palm oil by end-2015, will still make its own greenhouse gas assessments on crude palm oil sourced through the RSPO.

The Finnish refiner now applies the segregation method to its supply chain system that allows for the mixing of certified green palm oil with those produced by non-RSPO plantations.

It may go over to mass-balancing its supply chain, which means Neste Oil will administer the mixing of these two type of palm oil available so that they know the conditions and the farming methods of their suppliers.