OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2014. Neste Oil used more waste and residues than vegetable oil to produce renewable fuel for the first time in 2013. Waste and residues accounted for 52% of the 2.3 million tons of renewable feedstocks used last year, while vegetable oil, mainly crude palm oil, accounted for the remaining 48%.

Neste Oil increased its use of waste animal fat and palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD), a residue generated during palm oil production, in particular, and also began using three new waste- and residue-based inputs: tall oil pitch, technical corn oil, and spent bleaching oil.

Neste Oil's usage of waste and residues in renewable fuel production increased by 64%, to more than 1.2 million tonnes last year. This compares to 740,000 tonnes in 2012 and 330,000 tonnes in 2011. Thanks to this major increase, Neste Oil now produces enough renewable diesel from waste and residues to power more than 1 million cars annually.

"We have quadrupled our use of waste and residues in just two years and developed a broad and flexible renewable feedstock base, in line with our strategy," says Matti Lehmus, Neste Oil's Executive Vice President, Oil Products and Renewables. "We now have 12 different renewable inputs in our feedstock base. Going forward, we will continue to focus on extending the range of non-food materials we use and continue verifying the sustainability of all our renewable inputs."
Neste Oil uses around 70% of its annual R&D budget of approx. EUR 40 million on research into renewable feedstocks, with a particular focus on completely new types of inputs, such as microbial oil and algae oil.