Neste and Chevron Lummus Global, a leading technology provider for renewable and conventional transportation fuel production, have formed a strategic partnership to advance innovation in renewable fuels. The companies are collaborating to develop breakthrough technology that enables the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into high-quality, lower-emission renewable fuels, including sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel.
The joint development initiative has achieved its first major milestone, with piloting results indicating that the new technology could deliver significant performance improvements over existing technologies for processing lignocellulosic raw materials. Both companies are currently engaged in validating the technology while targeting readiness for commercial-scale deployment.
Lignocellulosic waste and residues from existing forest industry and agricultural production represent vast, underutilised resources that could serve as valuable renewable raw materials. These materials are generated through various sources, including harvesting operations, forest industry processing, and end-of-life wood materials, yet remain largely untapped for fuel production applications.
Lars Peter Lindfors, senior vice president of technology and innovation at Neste, emphasised the potential significance of lignocellulosic materials as a renewable fuel feedstock. He noted that the technology development collaboration with CLG has progressed favourably, with encouraging initial results. Lindfors explained that unlocking the potential of these promising raw materials would enable the company to address growing renewable fuel demand over the long term while contributing to ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
The strategic alliance leverages Neste’s pioneering expertise and global leadership position in renewable fuels alongside CLG’s extensive experience and proven track record in developing and licensing market-leading refining technologies. This combination of capabilities positions the partnership to address technical challenges associated with processing lignocellulosic feedstocks.
Rajesh Samarth, CEO of CLG, characterised the successful proof of concept as a major milestone in the collaboration, advancing efforts toward commercial-scale production of renewable fuels from abundantly available but technically challenging lignocellulosic raw materials. He expressed confidence that the partnership will establish a new pathway for renewable fuel production by leveraging CLG’s versatile and scalable hydroprocessing technology platform.
The development represents a significant step forward in expanding the feedstock base for renewable fuel production, potentially unlocking new sources of sustainable raw materials that could help meet growing global demand for cleaner transportation fuels.
