Neste Oil Completes First Phase of Its Microbial Oil Pilot Plant
(Neste Oil Corp./Biodiesel Magazine) Neste Oil has completed the first phase of its project to build a pilot plant for producing microbial oil. Construction of the plant is on-schedule and on-budget. The first phase will enable the growth of oil-producing microorganisms, and the following phases will concentrate on raw material pretreatment and oil recovery. The goal is to develop the technology so that it is capable of yielding commercial volumes of microbial oil for use as a feedstock for NExBTL renewable diesel. Commercial-scale production is expected by 2015 at the earliest.
… The technology is designed to produce feedstock for NExBTL renewable diesel by using yeast and fungi to convert sugars from waste and residues into oil highly efficiently. It utilizes bioreactors similar to those used in the biotech and brewing industries. A wide range of different waste and residue materials can be used, such as straw and sidestreams from the pulp and paper industry, which makes feedstock optimization possible. READ MORE