Petrobras, partners tap Topsoe for Riograndense refinery renewables project

Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), alongside partners Ultrapar Participações SA and Braskem SA, have let a contract to Topsoe AS to deliver technology for a commercial-scale renewable fuels production plant at jointly owned Refinaria de Petróleo Riograndense SA’s (RPR) 17,000-b/d refinery in Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

As part of the Nov. 13 contract, Topsoe will license its proprietary HydroFlex hydrotreating and H2bridge hydrogen technologies to enable the refinery’s combined production of 16,000 b/d of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from a mix of soybean oil and tallow feedstocks, the service provider said.

Scheduled for commissioning in first-half 2028, Topsoe said its technologies are anticipated to reduce carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions of more than 1.2 million tonnes/year, which equates to eliminating emissions of more than 240,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles annually.

Selection of Topsoe’s technology for the project comes as part of plan for the total conversion of the refinery into a biorefinery and establishing the site as a reference for SAF production in Brazil, said Felipe Jorge, Riograndense’s managing director.

While neither Topsoe nor Riograndense revealed further details regarding the contract, the project award follows the refinery operator’s completion of a first-phase pilot to test processing of petrochemical products and fuels from renewable feedstock at the site in fourth-quarter 2023 (OGJ Online, Nov. 8, 2023).

Carried out between end-October and early November 2023, the pilot test involved processing of 100% soybean oil in the refinery’s existing conventional fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) using proprietary technology developed by Petrobras’s research and development center (CNEPES), combined with proprietary catalysts from the ReNewFCC line produced in partnership with Fábrica Carioca de Catalisadores SA.

The pilot project’s second-phase test—which was scheduled for June 2024—was to involve the co-processing of mineral feedstock with bio-oil—advanced raw material from non-food biomass—to generate propylene, gasoline. and diesel, all with renewable content.

Petrobras previously said it was investing around 45 billion Brazilian real ($9.17 million) to enable the completion of RPR’s renewable feedstock processing test project in line with research, development, and innovation clauses as set out by Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Petróleo, the country’s National Petroleum Agency.

The Riograndense biorefining project comes as part of Petrobras’s Strategic Plan 2024-28+ under which the company increased capital expenditures from the 2023-27 program to support its objective to achieve a balanced energy mix by meeting demand for fossil-based energy while expanding its offering of low-carbon products, as well as attain zero emissions across operations (OGJ Online, Oct. 10, 2024).