Spanish energy firm, shipbuilder partner in marine biofuel efforts

Madrid-based energy company Repsol and state-owned Spanish shipbuilder Navantia have signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop innovative solutions to decarbonize maritime transport, including marine biofuel. The two companies will evaluate the performance of new low carbon footprint liquid fuels to be supplied by Repsol—biofuels and synthetic fuels—in engines manufactured by Navantia.

Repsol will contribute research infrastructure from its technology center, including pilot plants and blending labs, where Repsol will formulate the widest range of fuels with a low-carbon footprint, specifically for maritime transport.

For its part, the Navantia Engine Factory will provide the technical knowledge of the engines and will make its facilities in Cartagena available to the project, as well as test benches and diagnostic equipment for the characterization and development of the tests that, together with a classification society, will certify the viability and sustainability of the technology in operation.

Repsol is constructing a 250,000-ton plant (approximately 85 million gallons) in Cartagena, Spain, to produce renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), bionaphtha and biopropane from waste feedstock. In addition, Repsol plans to build one of the world’s largest synthetic fuels plants in Bilbao, Spain, together with Saudi Aramco.