Neste Oil uses tall oil pitch in commercial refinery

ESPOO, FINLAND: Neste Oil is the first company in the world to begin using tall oil pitch as a feedstock for refining into traffic fuel. Up until now, it has not been possible to use tall oil pitch, a residue produced by tall oil refiners, as a commercial-scale feedstock for fuel refining purposes.

Neste Oil successfully tested tall oil pitch in commercial refinery operations in March-April this year and is now ready to begin using it on a continuous basis. Fuel refined from tall oil pitch will be distributed to service stations in Finland this spring. The use of tall oil pitch as a traffic fuel feedstock has been made possible by innovative work carried out by Neste Oil’s R&D teams. Neste Oil aims to use significant quantities of tall oil pitch in the future.

“Thanks to our research work, we have been able to use tall oil pitch fractions in refining operations for some time; and the recent trial run has now shown that we have the capability to make use of this material on a large-scale basis. This represents a further step in our strategy of extending our feedstock base and increasing our use of waste and residues,” said Dr Lars Peter Lindfors, Senior Vice President, Technology, Neste Oil.

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