Global renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer Neste Corp., French fuel supplier Altens, and pipeline operator Trapil have collaborated to enable the first-ever transport of 100 percent renewable diesel by a pipeline in Europe. The fuel transport of Neste-produced renewable diesel took place March 28 between the harbor in Le Havre, located in northwestern France, and Gennevilliers, close to Paris.

Altogether close to 925,000 gallons of Neste-produced renewable diesel were transported by Trapil via the pipeline to the depot in Gennevilliers, where Altens stores its products for the region. The distance between Le Havre and Gennevilliers is 119 miles via the pipeline. The delivery took less than 48 hours to complete and replaced 110 truck deliveries. With pipeline transport, the greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 92 percent compared to conventional logistics by tanker trucks. “The use of a pipeline in fuel logistics allows us to ensure the emissions from fuel logistics remain as low as possible,” said Mohamed Bennama, president of Altens. “It also plays an essential role in the security of supply, and the greenhouse gas emissions are 35 percent smaller when compared with transports with electrified rail.”

Peter Zonneveld with Neste added, “We are very happy about this partnership enabling renewable diesel to be transported via pipeline for the first time in Europe. We share the common ambitions with Altens and Trapil, with which we were now able to take another step forward in our efforts to reduce the road transport emissions in France.”

Trapil is the historical operator of the pipeline networks in France and transports approximately 50 percent of French hydrocarbon consumption. Trapil is currently working on adapting its networks to allow the transport of all low-carbon liquid fuels such as bioethanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and synthetic fuels. Altens is the leading French supplier of a complete range of alternative nonfossil fuels for the transport sector.