Germany-headed engineering and plant construction company Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz GmbH (CAC) has announced that it has assigned by OMV AG with overall responsibility for the construction of a biofuel plant at OMV's Schwechat Refinery in Austria. With this project, CAC is realizing one of the first large-scale plants in Europe to use "innovative co-processing" to produce carbon-neutral fuels.
As announced in December 2020, the Vienna-based international oil, gas, and petrochemicals company OMV is investing around EUR 200 million in a liquid biomass co-processing plant at the refinery site in Schwechat, Austria.
With this process converting up to 160 000 tonnes of liquid biomass, the hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) should lead to an annual reduction in OMV’s carbon footprint of up to 360 000 tonnes of fossil carbon dioxide (CO2). The product meets the highest quality standards and can be readily used in any type of diesel-powered vehicle.
The technology applied is not limited to vegetable oils – waste products such as used cooking oil (UCO) and advanced feedstocks are also possible and will be used based on availability.
OMV expects demand for its hydrogenated biofuels to increase ten-fold by 2030.
With overall responsibility for all phases of the project, CAC is undertaking detailed engineering, including project management and project controlling, procurement services, and construction site management. This includes the supply of equipment and bulk materials (piping, instrumentation, electrotechnical material) as well as responsibility for construction and assembly work.
With this project, we are joining OMV in taking a further step towards sustainable mobility. Only with technological openness, we can provide rapid and sustainable protection for our environment, said Jörg Engelmann, Managing Director of CAC, which is currently launching its technology for manufacturing synthetic gasoline on an industrial scale onto the market.
