• Skip to main content

    Nitrogen+Syngas 394 Mar-Apr 2025

    19 March 2025

    Repsol to invest in renewable methanol

    SPAIN

    Repsol to invest in renewable methanol

    Repsol has approved a historic €800 million investment in Ecoplanta, a pioneering project in Europe to transform urban waste into renewable fuels and circular products, adding a solution for reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector, while at the same time promoting the circular economy. Located in Tarragona, the facility will be the first in Europe to produce methanol from municipal waste via a gasification process developed by Enerkem – a technology company in which Repsol is a partner – using waste that would otherwise end up in landfills or be incinerated.

    The new plant will have the capacity to process up to 400,000 t/a of municipal solid waste (MSW) and turn them into 240,000 t/a of renewable fuels and circular products. The renewable methanol originates from organic waste, while the circular products come from non-organic waste, such as non-recyclable plastics. The start-up of the plant is scheduled for 2029. Ecoplanta will be integrated into Repsol’s industrial complex in Tarragona to take advantage of existing infrastructures and accelerate the transformation of the centre into a multi-energy hub that will continue to manufacture essential products for society, such as renewable fuels and circular materials. According to the European Commission, the Ecoplanta will reduce the equivalent of 3.4 million tons of CO2 in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the first ten years of operation.

    Latest in Commodity

    Nickel Industries starts up ENC acid plant

    Nickel Industries announced started up the sulphuric acid plant at its new Excelsior Nickel Cobalt (ENC) HPAL project in the final week of June. The ENC Project is a massive, multi-billion dollar high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) facility located in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is operated by Australia’s Nickel Industries to supply battery-grade materials for the electric vehicle (EV) market. At capacity, it is expected to yield roughly 72,000 t/a of contained nickel equivalent as mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), nickel sulphate, and nickel cathode.

    Russia bans rail transport of Kazakh sulphur

    Russia has ordered a “temporary cessation” of rail transport of all sulphur originating from Kazakhstan that is destined for Russian seaports and railway checkpoints, representing a significant policy shift, according to an official order from the Federal Agency for Railway Transport (Roszheldor). The directive, which took effect from May 26th, orders a halt to the loading and movement of Kazakh sulphur “until further notice.” While the measure is officially described as temporary, the order provides no specific timeline for when the transit might resume. The action cites instructions from Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, D.V. Manturov, as its basis.