Neste Oil to take part in renewable diesel demonstration project in Germany
Neste Oil is taking part in a fleet demonstration program for a new blend of diesel fuel in Coburg, Germany. The aim of the program is to introduce a fuel with a significantly higher amount of renewable content than current diesel blends. The German Minister of Transport, Peter Ramsauer, kicked off the project on Aug. 2, 2013.
The new blend, known as Diesel R33, contains 26% NExBTL renewable diesel, an HVO-type fuel produced by Neste Oil, 7% conventional biodiesel produced from used cooking oil, and 67% petroleum diesel. The new blend offers by far the highest biofuel content of any diesel blend that fulfills and exceeds the requirements for diesel fuels used in the European Union. The limit for conventional biofuel blending under the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive and the EN 590 diesel standard is 7%.
“Unlike conventional biodiesel, there are no technical limitations to blending Neste Oil’s NExBTL renewable diesel, which opens up the potential for creating diesel blends that have high bio content and result in lower GHG and tailpipe emissions,” says Kaisa Hietala, Neste Oil’s vice president of renewable fuels.
The one-year Diesel R33 demonstration project will include 280 different types of vehicles, such as buses, cars, and trucks, and will test the performance of the new blend in traffic and the contribution it makes to reducing tailpipe emissions and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Diesel R33 project is a follow-up to a trial conducted in Coburg and Munich in 2010-2011. The results from this trial showed that the fuel, produced from 100% renewable input, is ideally suited to urban use and can make a significant contribution to reducing tailpipe emissions.
The Diesel R33 project is financed by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Public Health, the European Union and various other partners. In addition to Neste Oil, the project’s partners include German universities, research institutions, automotive manufacturers and other companies.
(August 2, 2013)
