Repsol to build an advanced biorefinery in Cartagena
Type of post: NEWS.
Repsol will build the first low-emissions advanced biofuels plant (HVO biorefinery) in Spain at its refinery in Cartagena. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 250 ktons of renewable diesel, biojet, bionaphtha, and biopropane. The plant, projected to be operational in 2023, will produce advanced biofuels from recycled raw materials to be used in aircraft, trucks or cars. The new advanced biofuels will make it possible to cut CO2 emissions by 900,000 tons per year. This pioneering facility will represent an investment of 188 M€.
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Figure 1. Repsol to build an advanced biorefinery in Cartagena (taken from the press release)
Following a first announcement of its plans in May 2019, Repsol has just confirmed the construction of a HVO biorefinery in Cartagena. Below, the full press release is reproduced textually.
Repsol will build the first production plant for advanced biofuels in Spain at its Cartagena refinery. From this new facility, the multi-energy company, committed to the circular economy as a tool for efficient resource use and emissions reduction, will annually supply 250,000 tons of advanced biofuels for aircraft, trucks, and cars.
The new facility, construction of which will represent an estimated investment of €188 million, will include the commissioning of a hydrogen plant that will fuel a new hydrotreatment unit equipped with cutting-edge technology.
This project is part of Repsol's commitment to the energy transition and its goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The advanced biofuels produced at the Cartagena refinery will enable a reduction of 900,000 tons of CO2 annually – approximately the equivalent of the CO2 absorption of a forest the size of 180,000 soccer fields – in yet another of the company's initiatives to fight climate change and, at the same time, give recycled raw materials a new use.
With this state-of-the-art decarbonization project, Repsol is also making a commitment to developing the industrial sector and to generating economic activity in Spain while promoting direct, indirect, and induced employment. With the support of auxiliary companies, the construction and commissioning work for the plant will be carried out in different phases and will require the work of some 1,000 professionals from diverse fields.
Repsol Chairman Antonio Brufau today met with the President of the Murcia Region, Fernando López Miras, at the seat of the regional government, to explain the details of the new Repsol advanced biofuels plant, an important project for Cartagena and for the region as a whole in terms of generating economic activity and employment.
At the press conference, Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz stressed the importance of this pioneering project in Spain: “With this initiative, we at Repsol are decisively promoting a new technological route that will be key in our path towards carbon neutrality. It is added to the projects we have already implemented in energy efficiency, low-emissions electricity generation, renewable hydrogen, circular economy, synthetic fuels, and CO2 capture, use, and storage, among others.”
“Spain must base its decarbonization strategy on its industrial and technological capabilities, because that will be the way to promote a competitive and innovative business fabric,” said Imaz, before adding that “all forms of decarbonization are valid and complementary and incentivizing them so that they can all contribute, without exclusion, will accelerate the energy transition and help us, as a society, achieve a speedy economic recovery, so necessary under the current circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.”
A cutting-edge project
On December 2 of last year, Repsol announced that it was orienting its strategy to become a net zero emissions company by 2050, in accordance with the Paris Agreement, making it the first company in its sector to adopt this ambitious goal.
The company emphasized the circular economy as a tool for the efficient use of resources and noted that it will double production of high-quality biofuels from vegetable oils (HVO) to 600,000 tons by 2030, half of which will be produced from waste before 2025.
Indeed, the singularity of the project at the Cartagena refinery has to do with the circular economy and the reuse of recycled raw materials to give them a new life and turn them into new products with high added value, in this case biofuels whose use reduces net CO2 emissions.
Repsol has been including biofuels in its automotive fuels for over two decades. In recent years, it has been increasing the biofuel content, and in 2020 the energy percentage has reached 8.5%, in line with the regulatory requirements in Spain that translate the country’s commitments as agreed within the EU.
The European institutions have already laid out a roadmap through a new directive that proposes a minimum of 14% renewable energy in transportation by the year 2030. In addition, Spanish legislation establishes, in the Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate (PNIEC), a stricter target of 28% renewable energy in transportation for 2030. With this new project, Repsol stays one step ahead of the regulatory framework and decisively advances towards its goal of becoming a carbon neutral company by 2050.
The International Energy Agency considers that biofuels will be a key lever in the gradual process of decarbonization of transportation, mainly from 2030 and in sectors where electrification presents challenges, such as aviation and maritime transportation.
Similarly, the promotion of biofuels will help diversify Spain’s energy matrix and make it possible to progress in the country’s energy independence, in addition to generating economic activity and stable quality employment.
Target of net zero emissions
This year, Repsol will reduce its Carbon Intensity Index by 3% with respect to the 2016 baseline, and it is significantly increasing its renewable generation capacity to reach the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
The company announced in June of this year that it will launch two major cutting-edge industrial decarbonization projects at its Petronor refinery in Bilbao. Additionally, with the objective of evolving towards a low-emissions energy model, Repsol produced the first batch of biojet for aviation in the Spanish market at its Puertollano refinery in July.
As part of its strategic orientation to become a multi-energy company, Repsol has also expanded its portfolio of renewable assets. It currently operates 2,952 MW of total installed low-emissions capacity in Spain, and it is developing renewables projects that add up to another 2,300 MW. In July, it began construction work on its largest solar farm, Valdesolar (Badajoz), which will have total installed capacity of 264 MW. This was the company’s third renewables project to break ground in Spain. The first was the Delta wind project, located in the provinces of Zaragoza and Teruel, which started to produce electricity in October and will have an installed capacity of 335 MW when fully operational. The second, the Kappa wind project (Ciudad Real) where construction began in April, will have total installed power of 126 MW. Repsol’s renewables portfolio also includes Delta 2, a project comprised of 26 wind farms spread out over the three provinces in the region of Aragon (Zaragoza, Huesca, and Teruel), with 860 MW. With the help of all the available technologies (energy efficiency, renewable generation, biofuels, circular economy solutions, synthetic fuels, etc.), Repsol’s goal is to advance in the energy transition and reduce the emissions of its operations and products, in line with the company’s commitment to fighting climate change in accordance with the ambitions established in the Paris Agreement.
