[Haichuan Chemical News] Total’s 500,000-ton-per-year biofuel plant in France comes online
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Total announced on Wednesday that it had begun producing biofuels at a refinery in southern France, a project that has triggered strong protests from environmentalists and farmers over its plans to import palm oil. The plant in La Mede, near Marseille, was converted from a former oil refinery and is now one of the largest bio-refineries in Europe. Total said on Wednesday that the plant, located on the banks of the Berre reservoir, has an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons of biodiesel, including biojet fuel for the aviation industry. This plant is the largest of its kind in France, on par with the large biofuel refineries of Eni in Italy and Neste Oil in Finland.
Biofuels are produced directly or indirectly from plant materials such as vegetable oils or palm oil, and environmentalists believe this will lead to large-scale deforestation, mainly in Southeast Asia. Total said it hopes to import up to 300,000 tons of palm oil per year, a move that has angered French rapeseed and sunflower growers. Last month, French farmers blocked La Mede and 12 other refineries to protest unfair competition, arguing that foreign producers were not subject to the same rules as European producers. Although Total has committed to using at least 50,000 tons of French rapeseed oil, as part of the total 650,000 tons of rapeseed that can be processed in La Mede each year.
I’m very interested in knowing which company’s technology Total uses.