HOLBORN Europa Raffinerie GMBH has let a contract to Topsoe AS to deliver technology for a proposed grassroots renewable fuels production complex to be built inside the operator’s existing 5-million tonne/year (tpy) refinery in Hamburg, Germany.
As part of the mid-August contract, Topsoe will license its proprietary Hydroflex technology to enable processing of waste and residue feedstocks into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel, the service provider said.
HOLBORN’s selection of Hydroflex—which enables conversion of various organic fats, oils, and greases into drop-in renewable jet and diesel meeting all global specifications for these fuels—was vital for processing the planned complex’s specific feedstock requirements, said Lars Bergmann, managing director of HOLBORN’s Hamburg refinery.
The proposed plant comes as part of HOLBORN’s broader program to reduce emissions and increase supplies of sustainable fuels such as renewable diesel and SAF in line with the company’s commitment to support the energy transition, as well as the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), the operator said.
HOLBORN previously confirmed the planned hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO; biodiesel) complex has been designed to produce 220,000 tpy of high-quality HVO—or green diesel—and SAF using unspecified biomass-based waste and residue feedstocks sourced from the agribusiness industry (OGJ Online, June 20, 2024).
This latest contract for the proposed development follows HOLBORN’s June 2024 award to Maire SPA’s Rome-based subsidiaries KT-Kinetics Technology SPA and NextChem SPA to jointly provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services on the complex. Maire’s scope of delivery also covers a planned pretreatment unit for renewable feedstocks, as well as infrastructure to connect the new HVO plant with existing refining operations.
“This project is an important step in HOLBORN's long-term transformation process, which aims to replace crude oil with alternative raw materials as part of our growth strategy. In doing so, we are focusing on renewable and circular solutions,” Bergmann said upon first announcing the project in June.
The HVO complex—including its pretreatment plant and connecting infrastructure to conventional refining installations—is scheduled to start operations in early 2027.
