Chevron REG breaks ground on pretreatment system at biodiesel plant in Emden, Germany

Photo: Chevron Renewable Energy Group

Chevron Renewable Energy Group broke ground on the expansion of its Emden, Germany, biorefinery during a ceremony held Aug. 27.

The expansion project includes the addition of a pretreatment system at the facility, which is expected to allow the business to utilize a broader variety of feedstocks for the production of biodiesel.

Chevron Renewable Energy Group operates biodiesel production facilities in Emden and Oeding, Germany. The expansion project in Emden is designed to benefit both facilities by enabling the business to refine some of the lowest carbon-intensity feedstocks, including ‘Generation 3’ feedstocks as defined under the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).

“Chevron is building a leading renewable fuels platform that can rapidly help provide lower-carbon solutions to the transportation sector, and this project is a key pillar of that strategy,” said Kevin Lucke, president of Chevron Renewable Energy Group. “Feedstock innovation and acceptance is critical to the growth of biobased fuels globally and we continue to advocate for the ability to utilize all generations of feedstocks and technology neutrality.”

The groundbreaking event took place at the Chevron Renewable Energy Group Emden facility and included policymakers, media and special guest Olaf Lies, the environment minister of the state of Lower Saxony.

Construction has recently started on the project and is expected to be completed in the second half of next year, with start-up by the end of 2023.

“The REG plant in Emden is part of Lower Saxony’s waste biodiesel industry, which produces liquid fuels with one of the largest greenhouse-gas reductions for Europe,” Lies said. “Here, waste fats are converted into climate-friendly fuels—for shipping and road transport. There and in aviation, we will need climate-neutral liquid fuels. That's why we welcome the investment to process advanced raw materials in Emden, which supports the state government’s climate-protection strategy. The future viability of the Emden site is demonstrated by Volkswagen’s decision to use the fuel produced here for its own shipping.”

REG announced in February that it had selected Austria-based BDI-BioEnergy International as the engineering, procurement and construction provider for the pretreatment project in Emden, Germany.