Market Developments

The rise of biofuel

Every company wants to operate sustainably. At least, if it can do so responsibly. Van den Bosch is keen to play its part in reducing CO2 emissions too. There are even great opportunities available in certain market segments. Welcome to the world of biofuel.

By biofuel, we mean fuels made from biomass, such as sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and palm oil. Biodiesel and Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) are the best-known biofuels (in addition to bioethanol, biogas and biobutanol).

Benefiting from experience

We have decades of experience in transporting vegetable oils. This experience will serve us very well in our activities for the biofuel industry. In addition, a lot of feedstock comes from Spain and Eastern Europe, where our company is already strongly represented.

Intermodal transport

We organise the transport of biofuel feedstock by using an intermodal system. And that delivers efficiency, both for our customer and for ourselves, says Director Business Development, Paul van de Vorle. “Intermodal transport means fewer kilometres on the road, and more by water and rail, where the average payload is much higher - which means we transport less air.”

Profit squared

To make our transport even more efficient, we recently invested in tank containers offering a capacity of 32,000 to 35,000 litres, with good insulation plus steam pipes to bring the load to the right temperature. Van de Vorle: “By transporting biofuel feedstock, we and our partners indirectly contribute to the reduction of CO2, particulate matter and sulphur emissions, while also using an efficient, sustainable transport model. That’s profit squared.”

Biodiesel and HVO in Europe

Today we produce 5.1 million tonnes of biodiesel and HVO in Europe. That volume will grow strongly in the coming years: it is expected that we will break through the 10 million tonne barrier around 2025. This extra capacity will be purchased mainly by major oil companies, such as Neste, Preem, ENI, Total and Repsol. The biggest new production capacities will be in the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Finland, Poland, France and Spain.