Future raw materials

We continue to work towards increasing the availability of raw materials, while also developing technologies to diversify our current portfolio with new scalable raw materials.

Short to mid term: increasing the availability of waste and residues and novel vegetable oils

We are exploring ways to increase the availability of emerging, even lower-quality waste and residue raw materials, such as acid oils and wastewater-derived grease (i.e. “brown grease”). We are also exploring novel vegetable oils produced with regenerative agricultural practices.

Lower-quality waste and residues

Neste’s raw material strategy focuses on developing new raw material sources while growing our existing portfolio with new raw materials.

In addition to expanding the sourcing volumes of the waste and residues we already have in our raw material portfolio, we are working on diversifying our portfolio with emerging, even lower-quality wastes and residues (including raw materials from EU RED II Annex IX A list) and developing our pretreatment capacity to enable their use.

These raw materials include, for example:

Acid oils: Free fatty acids derived from refining processes of a variety of vegetable oils, for example. Neste is currently developing a supply of acid oils originating from the vegetable oil refining process, such as refining of soybean oil.

Brown grease: Refers to fats, oils and grease removed from wastewater. Grease trap fat is removed from grease traps, which are commonly found in restaurants, while sewage sludge is a remainder of the wastewater treatment process.

Advanced pretreatment processes and the use of the proprietary NEXBTL technology make it possible for Neste to convert low-quality raw materials like acid oils and brown grease into high-quality renewable products, but on a global scale, the use of these materials requires substantial investment in additional research and development.

Did you know?

Many underdeveloped raw material pools exist, but face challenges both inside their supply chains (such as collection, transport, and refinement) as well as outside (such as sustainability regulations). In other words, unlocking the potential of additional renewable raw materials is a task that demands as much ingenuity as it does urgency. Collaborative effort is key; more than anything else, scaling up the use of renewable raw materials requires highly effective and ambitious partnerships.

Novel vegetable oils from regenerative agricultural practices

Regenerative agriculture focuses on restoring soil health.

Regenerative farming practices aim to trap carbon in healthier soils, promote biodiversity and reduce emissions from agriculture, while increasing farm productivity.

As part of our efforts to develop new sustainable sources of renewable raw materials, Neste is exploring the potential of regenerative agricultural concepts to produce additional biomass. Neste focuses on concepts, such as intermediate cropping, which do not create additional demand for agricultural land.

We have launched over 60 field studies across the globe, working together with farmers, other value chain partners and research institutions. We have been studying a variety of crops and regenerative agriculture management practices, for both annuals and perennials, to identify most promising concepts for scale-up. With promising results, we have set at target these novel vegetable oils from regenerative agricultural practices to make up ~20% of our renewable raw material pool by 2035.

Did you know?

Regenerative agriculture refers to methods that agricultural producers can use to protect or restore the viability of land and soil as well as the ecosystems they are a part of. With soil conservation at their center, regenerative practices consider not only short-term crop yields, but long-term resilience of ecosystems, enhancing both the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainable agriculture.

The benefits of regenerative practices often extend further than the land itself. They can also reduce GHG emissions and unlock new opportunities in agricultural value chains. Regenerative practices such as cultivating marginal lands or planting intermediate crops may also be a way to produce additional, new volumes of bio-based renewable raw materials contributing to a broader shift toward more sustainable agriculture.

Long term: exploring new raw materials and developing technologies to diversify our raw material portfolio further

Our long-term raw material development focuses on, for example, the following scalable raw materials and technologies enabling their use:

Lignocellulose

We believe that lignocellulosic waste and residues from existing forestry and agricultural production can make an important contribution as a new scalable raw material providing additional volumes of more sustainable fuels and materials to drive carbon neutrality.

Neste has been active in studying lignocellulosics as a potential raw material as well as lignocellulose conversion technologies for a long time, for over a decade.
Large amounts of waste and residues from existing forestry and agricultural production remain underutilized and could be transformed into valuable and highly sustainable new raw materials.
The structural parts of plants, including trees, are made of a complex mixture of carbohydrate polymers, called lignocellulose. These are the most abundant natural polymers found on earth. These polymers, cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose as well as the huge variety of extracts in plants, offer excellent replacement for fossil raw materials for making fuels, chemicals and materials.

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Did you know?

Forestry waste & residues are generated in harvesting operations (e.g. treetops & branches, pre-commercial thinnings). Forest industry residues, on the other hand, are streams generated in forest industry processing (e.g. bark and sawdust), and recycled wood streams are end-of-life materials i.e. from construction wood.

Microalgae

As a raw material for fuel production, algae have been the target of extensive research over the recent decades.

Fast-growing microalgae are promising and scalable raw materials for industrial production of renewable fuels.
Sustainability drives the future for algae: they can be cultivated sustainably (low fresh water footprint), and they offer high areal productivity and opportunity to be cultivated on non-arable lands.
Neste has over 15 years of experience in algae research and development, including numerous lab and field experiments. Our proprietary NEXBTL technology is fully compatible with this feedstock, yielding 100% renewable diesel and premium jet fuels

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Did you know?

There are hundreds of thousands of algal species, from giant kelp to tiny microorganisms in our oceans, rivers and lakes. But it is the microalgae that are of special interest in fuel production, since they use the energy of sunlight to synthesize the sugars, fats and other complex biomolecules that promote their own rapid growth. The lipids and fatty acids they make have a high energy density and are an excellent raw material for biofuels.

Renewable hydrogen

The transition to a renewable (green) hydrogen economy is just getting started. Neste is evaluating possibilities to replace fossil-based hydrogen with renewable hydrogen in its production.

Hydrogen is used in large quantities in many industries, e.g. oil refineries to process fuels. A common way to produce hydrogen has been to produce it from natural gas and water in high temperatures, which leads to carbon dioxide emissions.
Renewable hydrogen is produced by electrolysis, where hydrogen is processed from water using renewable electricity, such as wind or solar, by splitting water molecules.
Currently, around 95% of all hydrogen is made of fossil natural gas, which leads to significant GHG emissions. Renewable (green) hydrogen is almost emission-free and that is why it holds a massive potential to help meet our rising energy demand and contribute to global climate goals.

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Did you know?

Grey hydrogen = derived from natural gas and produced from fossil fuels.

Green hydrogen = hydrogen produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity.

Blue hydrogen = grey hydrogen, but CO₂ is captured and then stored.

Unlocking new raw material pools to accelerate emission reductions

Multiple raw materials can replace fossil raw materials in fuel production. Some are available already today, and with innovation we can unlock the future potential of many others

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Growing a renewable raw materials solution – right under our feet

Another UN Climate Change conference is over – but the need to reduce our global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains. To tackle the climate emergency, we must replace the fossil resources traditionally used in the transport and chemical industries with renewable raw materials.

News and insights

How partnerships are key to directing plastic waste to chemical recycling

Plastic waste pollution is a pressing issue. Novel technologies such as chemical recycling are being developed to get more plastic waste back to circulation and to be used as a resource.

Short to mid term: increasing the availability of waste and residues and novel vegetable oils

Lower-quality waste and residues

Novel vegetable oils from regenerative agricultural practices

Long term: exploring new raw materials and developing technologies to diversify our raw material portfolio further

Lignocellulose

Microalgae

Renewable hydrogen

Unlocking new raw material pools to accelerate emission reductions

Growing a renewable raw materials solution – right under our feet

How partnerships are key to directing plastic waste to chemical recycling

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