The largest Romanian oil and gas company OMV Petrom will produce sustainable aviation fuel at its Petrobrazi refinery by co-processing locally produced rapeseed oil. The first test run volumes are estimated for this July. The product will help reduce the CO2 emissions from commercial flights.
Member of OMV Petrom’s Executive Board responsible for Refining & Marketing Radu Caprau said that the production of sustainable aviation fuel is part of the company’s strategic objectives and it believes that it will become the main alternative for achieving the climate objectives of the aviation industry. The goal is to have an annual combined production of sustainable aviation fuel and HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) of about 450 thousand tons by 2030.
This test run was based on a successfully completed first rapeseed oil co-processing pilot at the Petrobrazi refinery, performed in July 2020. OMV Petrom was certified as an HVO producer based on the CERTROM audit, in accordance with the requirements of the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC-EU) voluntary scheme. This is a system recognized by the European Commission for the certification of sustainable materials that comply with the legal requirements of the Directive on the promotion of the use of Energy from Renewable Sources (RED). The use of HVO reduces the CO2 emissions by at least 65 % compared to conventional diesel.
Petrobrazi will thus become the first ISCC certified refinery in the country to produce sustainable aviation fuel and HVO by co-processing raw materials of a biological nature. The sustainable aviation fuel volumes produced at the Petrobrazi refinery for commercial flights will help reduce the CO2 emissions by about 70 % compared to the conventional fuel.
At the same time, the company aims to increase the production capacities in the future, in order to produce advanced sustainable fuels based on various waste foodstocks (i.e. used cooking oil).
