Galp Energia, a Portuguese oil company, has announced plans to build a 6,500-barrel-a-day plant to make diesel fuel from vegetable oils using a process similar to oil refining.
The method, developed by UOP, a subsidiary of Honeywell, and Eni, the Italian energy company, adds hydrogen to oils derived from food crops to create a substitute that the companies describe as superior to ordinary diesel fuel. Longterm plans include expanding the fuel production into jet fuel.
The long-term goal is to modify the process to use oil from algae or from jatropha, a hardy shrub from Central America whose oil has long been burned in lamps. Using algae, jatropha or oilseed crops like canola as a source of diesel would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from diesel engines by up to 70 per cent, the companies say.