Portugal's environment agency greenlights Galp biodiesel, biojet plant

(Reuters) - Portugal's environment regulator on Monday said it had approved a project by Portuguese oil company Galp to launch an industrial-scale plant to produce biodiesel and biojet fuel using cooking oils at its Sines refinery.

Galp aims to launch the Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil plant, with an initial investment of €269 MM, at its refinery south of Lisbon, where it plans to install its first 100-megawatt (MW) green hydrogen unit.

The company, Portugal's biggest consumer of hydrogen from natural gas, wants to gradually produce zero-carbon hydrogen there through a process of electrolysis using renewable energy.

The green light from the regulator is essential for the company to take a final investment decision.

Galp wants to accelerate its decarbonization processes and plans to allocate around 50% of its capital expenditure to low-carbon activities through 2025.

In a statement, Portugal's APA environment agency said its favorable decision took into account "the identified negative impacts, generally possible to be minimized, and the expected positive impacts".

The agency noted that the project aimed to transform waste materials, such as used cooking oils and animal fats "into fuels for current use, of renewable origin, namely biodiesel and biojet", also known as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

SAFs are an alternative to traditional jet fuel and are considered to be more climate-friendly since they help replace dirtier petroleum products while providing new uses for waste.

The plant will have a maximum production capacity of 262,700 tons per year of biodiesel and 193,000 annual tons of biojet and other products, also from renewable sources, APA added.

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