Neste and Bayer are working together to build a business ecosystem around winter canola production in the US as a raw material for renewable fuels.
Winter canola, used as a rotational crop in combination with regenerative agricultural practices, can improve soil health and sequester carbon. The crop can then be used to produce materials such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel.
Bayer and Neste will work with the supply chain and farmers to introduce the winter canola, and have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly scale winter canola as a biomass-based feedstock which will involve developing "a winter canola ecosystem in the Southern Great Plains of the US" and include product development.
Neste, which has a strong focus on waste and residue raw materials said that the collaboration aligns with its efforts to develop regenerative agriculture concepts. “Used as a new alternative rotational crop, winter canola fits well to our novel vegetable oil concepts,” said Artturi Mikkola, senior vice president feedstock sourcing and trading at Neste. “Winter canola not only has the potential to result in a lower carbon intensity raw material but can also bring additional environmental benefits for cropping systems,” Mikkola added.
Neste said it is working together with partners in several regions globally on collaborations varying from smaller field trials studying the sustainability benefits of selected concepts, to more mature projects using different regenerative agriculture practices with the aim of identifying the most promising concepts that can be scaled up and diversify Neste’s raw materials pool for renewable products.
Bayer aims to launch its hybrid TruFlex winter canola in 2027. Leading up to launch, Bayer will work with Neste and farmers to introduce winter canola as a biomass-based feedstock that delivers fuel with lower carbon intensity than traditional sources.
“We are committed to supporting farmers’ ability to deliver low-carbon feedstocks on demand, through investments in new crops like winter canola and advancements in sustainable cropping systems,” said Frank Therhorst, head of strategy and sustainability for Bayer’s Crop Science Division.
With renewable fuels playing a key role in decarbonising transport, the UK government’s SAF Mandate has come into force, which means SAF must make up 2% of all jet fuel for flights taking off from the UK. The volume will grow year-on-year to reach 10% by 2020 and 22% by 2050. The government said that these targets will see some 1.2 million tonnes of SAF supplied to the UK airline industry each year by 2030.
The UK is one of the first countries to bring such a mandate into force. The UK's minister for aviation Mike Cane said: “The UK mandate is ambitious, and scaling SAF production will mean further work to expand eligible feedstocks, incentives to help cut costs, and critically, ensuring the design of the revenue certainty mechanism enables the UK to increase production of advanced fuels this decade whilst keeping costs as low as possible.”
Further reading on science and innovation:
•Startup wants to turn plant waste into biofuel for planes and ship
•Johnson Matthey and Honeywell UOP work on sustainable fuels
•BASF pipeline is boosting sustainable agriculture
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