Neste’s new innovation center in Singapore focusing on feedstock development, pretreatment

Opening ceremony of the innovation center in Singapore Feb. 15 (Photo: Neste Corp.)

Neste Corp. has established an innovation center in Singapore to strengthen its innovation and R&D capabilities globally.

Asia has become an important market area for Neste and the new center provides good support to the company’s growth journey in the Asia-Pacific region.

The opening of the innovation center was celebrated Feb. 15.

“Innovation has enabled our transformation from a regional oil refiner towards global leadership in renewable and circular solutions,” said Lars Peter Lindfors, executive vice president of innovation for Neste. “We are delighted to open the APAC Innovation Center, which creates a framework for world-class raw-material research in Asia-Pacific and supports our growth in the region, driven by our expanding renewable products refinery in Singapore, start-up of which will take place by the end of the first quarter 2023. And equally important, the innovation center drives collaboration with our network in the Asia-Pacific region including academia, research institutions as well as industry players.”

Beh Swan Gin, chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board, added, “We congratulate Neste on the opening of its APAC Innovation Center. This will drive closer collaboration with its regional partners to unlock new possibilities for renewable fuels and chemicals. The project will also contribute to Singapore’s efforts to grow as a hub for sustainable products and innovation in decarbonization technologies. We are delighted to support Neste’s continued efforts in developing and delivering sustainability solutions from Singapore for the world and welcome other like-minded players to do the same.”

With state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and advanced analytical and raw-material research capabilities, the innovation center focuses on research around raw materials and pretreatment processes.

The innovation center is located in Science Park II in the western part of Singapore and has hired more than 20 researchers and professionals so far.

According to Neste, the new center complements the company’s global innovation work, which is about exploring new business opportunities around scalable future raw materials and related technologies.

Approximately 25 percent of the company’s personnel work with innovative research, product development and engineering.

In 2022, Neste’s R&D expenditure was 85 million euros, of which the majority is invested in innovation, research, development and testing of future raw materials and technologies enabling their use.

Over the past decade, there have been more than 2,000 renewable raw-material samples examined at Neste and, by 2022, the company has been granted some 2,000 patents.

The technology center in Porvoo, Finland, carries out research, development and engineering work.

“This innovation powerhouse employs more than 1,000 professionals, and it continues to serve as a vital cornerstone for Neste, focusing on the whole value chain from raw materials to end products,” the company stated.