Vitol and Quantafuel, a producer of synthetic low-carbon fuel, today announced a strategic partnership. As part of this partnership Vitol will provide an undisclosedamount of financing to Quantafuel and be the sole marketer of the low-carbon fuel produced by Quantafuel’s recycling plants.
Quantafuel processes plastic waste into, predominantly, diesel using a highly efficient process and proprietary technology. Currently only 12-14% of Europe’s 25 million tonnes of plastic waste a year is recycled, with the majority going to landfills or incineration, and about 500,000 tonnes leaching in the oceans every year.
Diesel demand worldwide is close to 29 million barrels a day and anticipated to continue growing over the next decade. Quantafuel is currently constructing its first commercial plant in Europe in Denmark, which is expected to commence operations in Q4 2018. The company will build a second European plant in Norway, to be completed in 2019. The two plants will have a combined capacity of 120 tonnes of waste plastic transformed into 80 tonnes of low-carbon fuel per day. These volumes are expected to double within the first 24 months of operation.
Plans for additional European plants are underway, including a 300-500 tonnes per day waste plastic facility at a key logistic point for fuel handling in Europe, in partnership with Vitol, and several potential production sites in the UK are currently under evaluation
Chris Bake, Director, Vitol said: “Waste plastic is a problem in all societies, we are delighted that our partnership with Quantafuel will enable waste product to be reused constructively as part of the energy mix.”
Kjetil Bøhn, Quantafuel CEO said: “We believe that the best way to handle the growing environmental challenge with plastic waste, is to transform it into low-carbon fuel in a financial, sustainable way, and we have chosen to enter into a partnership with Vitol because they provide us with the best platform to rapidly deploy production capacity on a global scale.”
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Vitol contact: Andrea Schlaepfer +44 207 973 4230
Quantafuel contacts: Andy O’Keeffe/Amanda Wirhed – andy@deliberate-pr.com / amanda@deliberate-pr.com 0044 2072211540 / 0044 7930 408224
About Vitol
Vitol is an energy and commodities company; its primary business is the trading and distribution of energy products globally – it trades over seven million barrels per day of crude oil and products and, at any time, has 250 ships transporting its cargoes.
Vitol’s clients include national oil companies, multinationals, leading industrial and chemical companies and the world’s largest airlines. Founded in Rotterdam in 1966, today Vitol serves clients from some 40 offices worldwide and is invested in energy assets globally including: circa 18mm3 of storage across seven continents, 480kbpd of refining capacity and 5,000 service stations across Africa, Australia, Eurasia and in Northwest Europe. Revenues in 2017 were $181 billion.