OMV unveils plan for new biofuels plant

OMV, the integrated oil, gas and chemical company, is planning to build a pilot plant at its Schwechat Refinery that will produce second-generation biofuels from 2023.
Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz (CAC) has been selected by OMV with overall responsibility for the construction of the new biofuel plant.
CAC is behind the plan to build the first large-scale plant in Europe to use innovative co-processing to produce carbon-neutral fuels.
Biogenic input materials will be processed together in combination with fossil, oil-based raw material in a hydrogenation facility at the refinery.
The Vienna-based international oil, gas and chemicals company is investing about €200m in the conversion process at the Austrian site.
Through this process, the use of hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) will lead to an annual reduction in OMV’s carbon footprint of up to 360,000 metric tonnes of CO2.
This is equivalent to the annual emissions of around 200,000 cars driving an average of 12,000 km a year.
The technology can also be applied for waste products like used cooking oil (UCO).
OMV expects demand for hydrogenated biofuels to increase ten-fold by 2030.
“With this project we are joining OMV in taking a further step towards sustainable mobility,” said Jörg Engelmann, managing director of CAC. “Only with technological openness we can provide rapid and sustainable protection for our environment.”
OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions.
It reported sales of €23 billion in 2019 and the company has a workforce of around 20,000 employees worldwide.