“Green molecules of biological or synthetic origin are the only solution for decarbonising heavy transport, like trucks, ships and aeroplanes.”
Hot, sizzling cooking oil can turn bland potatoes into crispy, delicious fries. Afterwards, that oil can still be processed into “biofuel” to power a truck or aeroplane. Produce enough biofuel, and you start to chip away at carbon emissions from all types of transport, particularly in hard-to-abate areas like heavy vehicles and aviation.
The Spanish company Moeve is building a second-generation biofuels production facility in Huelva, Andalusia, that will be able to turn 600 000 tonnes a year of used fatty residues, oils and other waste into HVO biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel. That’s equal to about 1% of all the aviation fuel consumed in Europe.
“What we are producing in this plant, which is pretty new, is renewable diesel fuel. It contains exactly the same molecule as normal diesel or kerosene for aviation,” says Matteo Vaglio, director of biofuels at Moeve, formerly known as Cepsa. “The only thing that changes is the origin of the molecule, which is not fossil but is biological. It comes from waste.”
The advantage, Vaglio explains, is that the biofuel can be used in existing diesel or aeroplane engines without any adaptation. “Zero investment is needed by the client to be able to use it,” he says. “You can go to the gas station today and fuel your car with 100% renewable fuel.”
Fuels from fat
The new biofuels plant in Andalusia will use cutting-edge technology to convert used oils and other residues into advanced biofuels. It works like this:
- Crude waste, such as oils, are “refined” in a series of steps that involve filtering and purification. They are then prepared to be converted into renewable fuel.
- Unsaturated fatty molecules are broken down in a process called hydrogenation, which adds hydrogen atoms to create hydrocarbon molecules of biological origin.
- During the process, the atoms of these hydrocarbons are linked in long carbon chains. Those new hydrocarbons can be further processed into renewable fuels and gases that can be used in traditional internal combustion engines or furnaces.
The new plant is designed to have little or no environmental impact. Renewable power, green hydrogen and, possibly, biogas will fuel production, and it will use recycled water.
The plant will be able to process three kinds of waste: agricultural waste, which is basically a by-product of vegetable oil production (the oily water, fruit casings and shells left over from different types of oil), used cooking oil and animal fats.
Agricultural waste is the most coveted, as European directives require a minimum amount be used in biofuel production, while a cap is put on cooking oils because overuse could result in fraud. “Imagine using 30 litres of oil to fry a single shrimp,” Vaglio explains. “And then selling it as used cooking oil.
Waste not, want not
Collecting this waste is a burgeoning business.
“In Spain, you are starting to see a lot of companies that collect the oil,” says Daniel Colino, a loan officer at the European Investment Bank who is also working on the project. Much of the used oil comes from fast-food chains like McDonald’s, while a smaller share comes from households.
New EU directives on renewable energy and sustainable aviation fuels are driving this market for waste, known as feedstock. The directives require diesel and other fuels to contain a minimum (usually a small percentage) of biofuels by 2030 – with the share rising sharply by 2050.
A strength of Moeve’s new plant is that it can process a variety of waste, says Carmine Marzano, a senior engineer in the European Investment Bank’s bioeconomy division. “This is very important because bio feedstock is not infinite in the world, and the EU targets are very high,” he says.
Moeve is developing a separate business unit that will handle acquiring used oils and other waste across Europe, and it will rely on its partner to buy up waste in Asia. But Vaglio says the plant will privilege waste coming from Europe to limit the company’s carbon footprint. “The closer the feedstock is, the better, because you don’t have to transport it,” he says.
Before biofuels created a market for such waste, much of the used cooking oil or byproducts of vegetable oil production ended up in dumps or in pools at palm or olive plantations, and that oily waste contaminated the soil.
“This is a very important concept of circularity,” Vaglio says. “You transform a problem into a solution – a residue into green energy molecules.”
Andalusia’s advantages
Moeve will sell its biofuels directly through its own network of over 1 800 service stations and in seven airports and 60 ports in Spain, as well as through its global trading platform. “They already have the networks and clients,” says the European Investment Bank’s Colino.
The company operates another biofuel plant in Andalusia, and it is also developing the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, one of the largest hydrogen projects to date. The new projects are a boon for Andalusia, a cohesion region with high unemployment of about 19%. The projects are expected to generate 10 000 jobs overall in the region, including 1 000 jobs at Moeve’s energy plants.
Vaglio says that Andalusia has the potential to be “the most competitive region in Europe” for green molecules like biofuels and green hydrogen. “You have land, sun, wind, water, and access to strategic commercial routes, which are core elements for the development of renewable energy and biofuels,” he says.
“It is hard to find other regions in Europe with all these elements in the same place.”
