TotalEnergies has started producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at its Normandy facility to support French legislation that calls for aircraft to use a blend of at least 1% of SAF.
The French company will also manufacture SAF at its Grandpuits zero-crude platform at Seine-et-Marne near Melun starting in 2024, using waste and residue from other sectors. The operations support its biofuel production at La Mede biorefinery near Marseille and the Oudalle plant near Le Havre.
"By announcing the start-up of SAF production at a new site in France, we are responding to strong demand from the aviation industry to reduce its carbon footprint,” said TotalEnergies president of refining and chemicals Bernard Pinatel.
“We are also confirming our commitment to support customers by offering innovative solutions to reduce their emissions. This commitment is fully aligned with the company's climate ambition to get to net zero emissions by 2050, together with society.”
Demand for biofuels is set to grow 28% from 2021 to 2026, according to the International Energy Agency. SAF consumption in Europe alone is expected to grow to at least 800 million litres per year by 2026.
TotalEnergies is diving headfirst into sustainable energy, with goals to install 100 gigawatts of renewable power generation by 2030.
Its joint venture Attentive was awarded a block in the New York Bight lease auction, and its joint venture TotalEnergies SBE with Simply Blue Group is exploring upwards of 35 GW of potential for floating offshore wind in the US.
On the Iberian Peninsula, Spain's Repsol is also upping its biofuels game, announcing it has signed an agreement with shipbuilder Navantia to decarbonise maritime transport.
The companies will evaluate the performance of low-carbon liquid fuels from Repsol in the propulsion and generation systems manufactured by Navantia. Their partnership will focus on the technical and economic feasibility of the technology.
Repsol is involved in the construction of Spain’s first advanced biofuels plant, which will manufacture 250,000 tonnes of biojet, biodiesel, bionaphtha and biopropane from waste annually. It also is working with Saudi Aramco to build a synthetic fuels plant in Bilbao, Spain.
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