Neste Oil Corporation Press Release 4 November, 2009 at 1.00
pm EET
Focusing on better biofuels for cars
Neste Oil and St1 to collaborate as part of VTT's TransEco
development program
Neste Oil and St1 have begun working together on a fuel project as
part of the TransEco development program coordinated by VTT Technical
Research Centre of Finland. The project will focus on developing
cost-efficient solutions tailored to Finnish conditions that will
enable the 20% biocomponent target set for car fuel in 2020 as part
of national climate goals to be achieved. The majority of the funding
for the fuel project will come from the Ministry of Employment and
the Economy, with the remainder accounted for by VTT, Neste Oil, and
St1.
Finland has been a pioneer in making use of bioenergy and developing
low-emission traffic fuels, and the Ministry of Employment and the
Economy is now giving further support to the development of new
biofuels through the recently launched TransEco program.
The joint project between VTT, Neste Oil, and St1 will concentrate on
car fuels, as a number of other projects are already working on
biofuel research related to trucks and other heavy vehicles. St1 will
concentrate on optimizing high-blend bioethanol designed to replace
fossil gasoline for Finnish conditions and minimizing the
environmental impact of its use; while Neste Oil will focus on
developing other biocomponents suitable for blending with
conventional gasoline. The participation of both companies is
expected to generate significant added value, as sharing findings has
been highlighted as a key priority for all those involved.
"Neste Oil has already launched Neste Green diesel fuel in Finland,
which contains a minimum of 10% NExBTL renewable diesel," says Simo
Honkanen, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and HSSE. "Neste
Oil's NExBTL renewable diesel can be blended with conventional fuel
very flexibly and even used as such. Whatever the proportion used, no
modifications are needed either to vehicles or fuel distribution
systems. When our current round of capital projects are completed in
2011, Neste Oil will have close to 2 million t/a of renewable diesel
capacity on stream. What is important now is to find new alternatives
in the gasoline area, to ensure that Finland can retain its position
as a pioneer in biofuel usage and achieve the tough targets that have
been set - and even exceed them. We have an extensive R&D program in
place aimed at developing new types of raw materials for biofuel use
and new types of biofuels. As part of this, we have built a
demonstration facility in Varkaus with Stora Enso to process and
refine forest-derived biomass into traffic fuel."
"The oil industry has proposed increasing the biocomponent content of
traffic fuels in Finland on a phased basis to 10% by 2015," says Jari
Suominen, Director, Renewable Energy of St1. "This would enable us to
reach the EU target for 2020 significantly earlier than would
otherwise be the case, and would allow us to target 20% in the same
time frame. St1 is already pressing ahead in this direction with its
launch of Refuel RE85, a high-blend bioethanol. We have been building
a network of ethanol plants across Finland since 2007, and our goal
is to produce around 300,000 m3/a of ethanol for traffic fuel use
from waste and sidestreams by 2020. We believe that Finland needs a
range of alternative biofuel solutions as we go forward. The ability
of vehicles to use high-blend biofuels represents a major challenge
in this respect, which is why it will be essential to increase the
number of new vehicles on the road if we want to boost demand for
biofuels and make these fuels more widely available. The TransEco
fuel project has the potential to make a valuable contribution here,
as it will offer an excellent opportunity for the authorities,
researchers, and others in the field to work closely together to
achieve common goals."
Cutting traffic-related energy usage and emissions
Current targets call for a significant reduction in the amount of
energy used by vehicles and the volume of greenhouse gases they emit
into the atmosphere, together with an increase in the use of
renewables, by 2020. VTT's five-year TransEco research program has
been designed to help reduce overall energy usage on the roads and
increase the use of renewable energy in this area, and will focus
both on developing new technology and commercializing the results of
R&D work.
Renewable energy in this respect covers both biofuels and green
energy. VTT will investigate the use of electric and hybrid vehicles
in a range of operating environments and road conditions in other
TransEco projects; while Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
will research new types of electrical power trains for vehicles and
machinery.
Neste Oil Corporation
Hanna Maula
Director, Corporate Communications
Further information:
Ari Juva, Senior Fellow, Neste Oil Corporation, tel.+358 (0)10 458
3975, ari.juva@nesteoil.com
Jari Suominen, Director, Renewable Energy, St1 Oy, tel. +358 (0)10
557 2371, jari.suominen@st1.fi
Nils-Olof Nylund, VTT, Research Professor, Traffic Energy Use and
Engine Technology, tel. +358 (0)400 703 715, nils-olof.nylund@vtt.fi.
Neste Oil in brief
Neste Oil Corporation is a refining and marketing company
concentrating on low-emission, high-quality traffic fuels. The
company is the world's leading supplier of renewable diesel. Neste
Oil's refineries are located in Porvoo and Naantali and have a
combined crude oil refining capacity of approx. 260,000 barrels a
day, that is 15 million tons a year. The company had net sales of EUR
15 billion in 2008 and employs around 5,300 people. Neste Oil's share
is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.
Neste Oil has been selected into the Dow Jones Sustainability World
Index and awarded 'Best in Class' recognition for its social
accountability by Storebrand. The company is also featured in the
Ethibel Pioneer Investment Register and included in Innovest's Global
100 list of the world's most sustainable corporations. Further
information: www.nesteoil.com.
St1 in brief
St1 is a Finnish energy company whose vision is to be the leading
producer and seller of CO2-aware energy. The company researches and
develops economically viable, environmentally sustainable energy
solutions. St1's energy services and products cover everything from
wind power to high-concentration ethanol Refuel RE85 produced from
biowaste. The company received the Motiva Renewable Energy Award for
2009.
St1 stays true to its vision by turning waste into bioethanol with
the help of the company's own award-winning dispersed Etanolix®
production concept. To date, St1 has five bioethanol plants in
Finland, and a total of around 650 petrol stations in Finland,
Sweden, Norway and Poland. The company has its headquarters in
Helsinki and offices in Stockholm and Warsaw. More information at
www.st1.eu.
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