NExBTL

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NExBTL is a renewable diesel production process commercialized by Finnish oil and refining company Neste Oil.

1 Process
2 Cloud point
3 Production
4 Emissions
5 Feedstocks
6 Use
7 References

[edit] Process

NExBTL diesel is produced in a patented vegetable oil refining process. Chemically, it entails direct catalytic hydrogenation of plant oil, which is triglyceride, into the corresponding alkane. 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 transesteried biodiesel. Unlike the yellow transesterified biodiesel, the product is a clear and colorless paraffin, with a good cetane number (85 to 99) and better properties than even petrodiesel.^[1] As it is chemically identical to ideal conventional diesel, it requires no modification or special precautions for the engine.^[2]^[3]

[edit] Cloud point

The cloud point (or gel point) can be adjusted from -5ºC to -30ºC (-22ºF to 23ºF) during the manufacturing process^[4], compared to petrodiesel's cloud point range of -23ºC to 4ºC (-10°F to +40°F)^[5], which would improve the cloud point of diesel when blended. The cloud point is the temperature when the wax precipitates out of the fuel in the form of small wax crystals making the fuel cloudy and more difficult to move within the fuel lines and system of a vehicle. The lower the cloud point of a particular fuel is, the more suitable it is in colder environments.

[edit] Production

A refinery in Porvoo, Finland was brought online in 2007 at a capacity of 0.17 million tons per year and another is being built at the same facility to open in 2009. A larger refinery, with a production of 0.80 million tons annually, is planned in Singapore by 2010.

[edit] Emissions

Neste has calculated that the use of NExBTL cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 40–60%, taking into account the entire production and transport chain.

Due to the chemistry of the process, the diesel is pure alkane and contains no oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur or aromatics.

[edit] Feedstocks

Vegetable oils can be used, and palm oil is the principal (90%) feedstock.^[6] Neste has joined the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to certify that the palm oil is produced in a carbon-neutral, environmentally responsible manner. Neste purchases most of its palm oil from IOI,^[7] but requires a separate production chain for the RSPO-certified palm oil, in order not to create demand for rainforest destruction.

Deforestation would release carbon to the atmosphere and thus be counterproductive with respect to the carbon balance. In 2007, Greenpeace protested the use of palm oil, concluding that the potential for deforestation remains. According to Greenpeace, increasing the production of palm oil reduces the available land area and thus indirectly generates demand for rainforest destruction, even if the palm oil itself is rainforest-certified. Greenpeace notes that RSPO is voluntary organization and the most important palm oil producer, Indonesia, has one of the most corrupted governments of the world, thus local government regulation cannot be relied upon. Greenpeace also claims that palm oil diesel can actually produce 3–10 times more carbon dioxide emissions than petrodiesel because of the indirect effects of clearing of swamps, forest fires and indirect generation of demand for land area.^[8] Greenpeace demands that Neste should use domestic feedstocks like rapeseed oil or biogas instead.

[edit] Use

This diesel is blended with petrodiesel and sold in Neste stations. A market is created because the European Union requires that 5.75 per cent of transport fuels should be biofuels by 2010. In the Helsinki area, YTV and HKL will experiment by running buses with 25% NExBTL diesel first and then switching to 100% in spring 2008.^[9]

Germany requires the use of renewable fuel, therefore it is expected to be a major market for NExBTL.^{[citation needed]}