NExBTL

Neste Renewable Diesel (formerly NEXBTL) is a renewable diesel fuel production process commercialized by the Finnish oil and refining company Neste. Whether as an admixture or in its pure form, Neste Renewable Diesel is able to supplement or partially replace diesel fuel without problems. Unblended Neste Renewable Diesel meets the requirements set by the European pre-standard CEN TS 15940. Fuel blends meet the European diesel fuel standard EN 590.

Despite the former name BTL, the feedstock is vegetable oil and waste animal fats, not whole plants. However, fuel quality is equal to the synthetic Fischer-Tropsch BTL and GTL diesel fuels.

Neste Renewable Diesel is produced in a patented vegetable oil refining process. Chemically, it entails direct catalytic hydrogenolysis of plant oils, which are triglycerides, into the corresponding alkanes. The glycerol chain of the triglyceride is hydrogenated to the corresponding C3 alkane, propane — there is no glycerol sidestream. This process removes oxygen from the oil; the diesel is not an oxygenate like traditional transesterified FAME biodiesel. Catalytic isomerization into branched alkanes is then done to adjust the cloud point in order to meet winter operability requirements. As it is chemically identical to ideal conventional diesel, it requires no modification or special precautions for the engine.

Two refineries in Porvoo, Finland were brought on stream in 2007 and 2009, each with a capacity of 0.2 million tons per year. Two larger refineries, with annual production of 0.8 million tons both, were brought on stream in Singapore and Rotterdam in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Neste has calculated that the use of Neste Renewable Diesel cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 60 percent, taking into account the entire production and transport chain.

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Wikipedia