Finland-based Neste breaks ground on what it claims to be the world’s first Bio LPG facility located at Neste’s renewable product refinery in Rotterdam. The EUR 60 million facility will start production of Bio LPG in the end of 2016. SHV Energy will market and sell Bio LPG to be produced at Neste’s Rotterdam refinery.

Bio LPG can be used within a full range of existing LPG applications, from transport and commercial heating to retail leisure cylinders without having to change conventional equipment. The new facility will have a production capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year of Bio LPG for the European market. SHV Energy will be the exclusive distributor, supplying the 160,000 tonnes over four years.

The new fuel is reportedly already being recognized by policy makers as an effective method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting sustainability targets. The UK Department for Transport has issued Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates (RTFCs) for Bio LPG under their Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) accreditation, and SHV Energy is working with customers and policy makers in France, Germany, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, and Ireland on similar schemes.

Neste’s Rotterdam refinery primarily produces premium-quality NEXBTL renewable diesel from various waste, residues and vegetable oils. The EUR 60 million investment to produce and store Bio LPG in Rotterdam was announced in fall 2014. The new unit will purify and separate Bio LPG from the sidestream gases produced by the refinery. Technology, engineering and project management company Neste Jacobs has designed the Bio LPG production process.