Cepsa Química, Persán to use 100% renewable diesel in transport of chemical supplies

Cepsa Química and the Persán group, a leading company of home care and personal care products, have signed an agreement so that the supply transportation of chemical products from Cepsa to the Sevillian company will be carried out using 100 percent renewable diesel, also known as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO).

With this arrangement to promote sustainability in the transportation of these products, both companies will avoid the emission of around 126 tons of CO2 per year, an amount similar to that absorbed by a forest of over 8,000 trees during the same period.

Cepsa Química supplies Persán, through tanker trucks, with linear sulfonic acid or LABSA, the raw material used to produce over 60 percent of the biodegradable detergents, both for domestic and industrial use.

With a production that accounts for almost 20 percent of the international market, Cepsa Química is the world’s leading producer of linear alkylbenzene or LAB, the base from which sulfonic acid is made and which is sent to Persán, among other customers.

From now on, this product will be transported from San Roque in the province of Cádiz, Spain, to Persán's facilities in Seville using HVO, a second-generation biofuel that Cepsa produces at the La Rábida Energy Park in Huelva from organic waste such as used cooking oils or agricultural waste.

The result is a renewable diesel that, throughout its lifecycle, reduces CO2 emissions by up to 90 percent compared to those of conventional fuels.

For Cepsa Química CEO José María Solana, the agreement signed between the two companies “is part of our ‘Next Chemicals in Positive Motion’ strategy, a transformative and regenerative process that Cepsa Química is carrying out to promote the transition towards more sustainable products and processes, as a necessary principle for a comprehensive and balanced ecological transition that improves the daily lives of people, companies and society as a whole.”

For his part, Persán CEO Antonio Somé stressed that “sustainability is a priority for Persán in all its areas of activity. This commitment is extended to all our partners such as Cepsa, with whom today we celebrate the signing of this agreement that is part of our ‘Sustainability Director’ plan, where the reduction of CO2 emissions is a priority. This commitment will undoubtedly contribute to the creation of a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future.”

This agreement is in line with Persán’s sustainability strategy with a global ESG approach, a strategy that has enabled the company to implement development policies that benefit the well-being of its employees and its value chain, as well as a governance model that integrates sustainability into the company’s day-to-day operations and investment in technologies that reduce its environmental footprint.

Likewise, this effort has enabled the Andalusian company to renew its “Sello Reduzco,” a distinction awarded by the ministry for the ecological transition and the demographic challenge that recognizes organizations that achieve a sustained reduction in their carbon footprint.

In Persán’s case, the ministry endorsed that its emissions were reduced by 14 percent in the past three years.

Biofuels are a present-day solution for accelerating the decarbonization of transport, which currently accounts for 15 percent of global CO2 emissions.

Since 2022, Cepsa has been producing and marketing second-generation biofuels to customers in the air-, maritime- and land-transport sectors.

The energy company manufactures this renewable diesel at its La Rábida Energy Park in Huelva, Spain, a facility that has, among other national and European certifications, the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC EU), which certifies compliance with traceability criteria and the objectives established by European regulations for transport fuels.

To guarantee supply in the face of growing demand, Cepsa is building together with Bio-Oils the largest second-generation biofuels plant in southern Europe, with an investment of 1.2 billion euros (USD$1.3 billion).

This facility, to be commissioned in 2026 in Palos de la Frontera in Huelva, Spain, will have a flexible production capacity of 500,000 tons of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).