Big bet made on biofuel
THE FIRST advanced biofuel plant in Spain is being constructed in Cartagena by Spanish energy and petrochemical giant Repsol, announced city hall.
This initiative is part of its efforts to use resources efficiently and reduce emissions, and will supply 250,000 tonnes per year of advanced biofuel for aviation, trucks and cars.
The company is investing €200 million in the construction, including a hydrogen plant to supply a new hydrotreatment unit equipped with the latest technology.
An official ceremony was held at its Cartagena refinery on Monday, attended by Repsol president Antonio Brufau, Murcia regional president Fernando López Miras, national government representative José Vélez, and local mayoress Noelia Arroyo, amongst others. The mayoress hailed the investment, employment and activity the project will bring to the municipality.
“This represents the industrial application of the most advanced research into the generation of fuels using recycled raw materials,” she said.
Furthermore, the development of green hydrogen ‘must and could be the great alternative source to move, illuminate and heat the world… with a base in our city’, she added.
The Repsol president claimed it would consolidate Cartagena as a centre for supplying fundamental products for the present and future, and illustrates the company’s commitment to sustainable mobility and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
The biofuel produced there will enable annual carbon dioxide emissions to be cut by 900,000 tonnes, approximately equivalent to what is absorbed by a forest the size of 180,000 football pitches.
It is made from various types of waste from the food agriculture industry and others, such as used cooking oils.