Total Prepares to Begin Operations at La Mède Biorefinery

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) French multinational oil giant Total S.A. is just days away from a much-anticipated startup at its La Mède biorefinery in the south of France. A representative of Total told Biodiesel Magazine that the renewable diesel processing facility is on track to begin commercial production in late May or June. The facility has been besieged with delays and controversy over its planned use of imported palm oil.

In 2015 Total announced plans to convert the underperforming and unprofitable oil refinery in La Mède to produce 500,000 tons per year (approximately 170 MMgy) of hydrotreated vegetable oil (renewable diesel) using Axens’ Vegan process technology. Total planned to phase out petroleum crude processing by the end of 2016 and begin construction on the biorefinery conversion project in early 2017.

The biorefinery’s anticipated use of palm oil as one of many feedstocks has caused strong controversy in France. Last year, France’s Federation of Oilseed and Protein Producers (FOP) stated that Nicolas Hulot, France’s Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, capitulated by “validating the choice of deforestation imported from palm oil …, by sacrificing French rapeseed … [and] by telling the EU member states that France has made its choice—it will continue to import palm oil in defiance of the Paris Agreement and global warming…”

On May 31, 2018, France’s largest farmers’ union, Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles, called on farmers and consumers to block strategic sites beginning June 10 to protest the “profound injustice” of the matter.

Total stated it has committed to advocating for a “high-quality sustainable certification system” for the EU, such as the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification, or any other equivalent certification recognized by the European Commission.

“To that end,” the company stated in 2018, “a dedicated team has been set up to oversee compliance with sustainability criteria across the entire supply chain, making sure in particular that supplies are purchased from Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil-certified producers.”

“La Mède is authorized to use up to 450,000 tons of raw vegetable oil for its feedstock supply,” Total stated last year. “Total has noted the controversy stirred up by erroneous reports that crude palm oil could account for as much as 450,000 tons a year, or nearly 70 percent, of the site’s feedstock. The conflation between vegetable oil and palm oil prompted the group to spell out in more detail the supply plan, worked out with the French Ministry for Ecological and Inclusive Transition that it has committed to follow.”

Total says its feedstock supply mix will consist of 60 to 70 percent raw vegetable oil from palm, rapeseed, sunflower, carinata and soybean oils, as well as distillers corn oil. The other 30 to 40 percent of the converted refinery’s feedstock will come from animal fat, used cooking oil and residues from waste or the pulp and paper industry. READ MORE