NextChem awarded engineering contract for biojet plant in France

Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announces that its subsidiary NextChem has been awarded a contract by TotalEnergies to carry out a front-end engineering design and supply its technological know-how to implement a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in Grandpuits, France, capable of processing 400,000 tons per year (ton/y). The project is part of the plan to convert the Grandpuits Refinery into a zero-crude platform that will include a biorefinery, where NextChem is already engineering Europe’s first plant to produce compostable and biodegradable plastics, with a capacity of 100,000 ton/y. 

The BioJet plant, due to be operational in 2024, will strengthen NextChem’s role in TotalEnergies’s net-zero strategy as a major part of the Grandpuits Refinery “zero-crude” platform development, known as “Projet Galaxie”. 

The “Projet Galaxie” will produce BioJet fuels by treating primarily animal fats from Europe and used cooking oil. This new unit will be aligned with France’s roadmap for the deployment of sustainable aviation biofuels, which includes a target of 2 percent by 2025 and 5 percent by 2030.

SAF (or biojet) technological know-how is one of NextChem’s key component of its green-tech portfolio that makes Maire Tecnimont Group a key enabler of the energy transition. Contributing to a sustainable mobility through a wide range of solutions for the production of green, low carbon and biofuels is one of Maire Tecnimont Group’s priority goals towards 2025, within its sustainability strategy. 

Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Maire Tecnimont Group and NextChem, commented, “We are very happy to continue strengthening our strategic collaboration with a prestigious global player like TotalEnergies: being the partner of choice for its ambitious Grandpuits energy transition project is exciting, as innovative corporations have pioneering goals and may make the difference in Europe’s challenging path to decarbonization. Combining Maire Tecnimont’s leading experience in EPC contracting in the natural resources transformation sector worldwide, with NextChem’s focus on deploying solutions in carbon footprint reduction through the development of new technologies is a winning value proposition.  The air transportation sector is looking for biofuels solutions urgently, to cope with the challenging targets for GHG emissions reduction. This partnership will give a concrete answer to a concrete need.”

TotalEnergies is investing in low-carbon activities with strong growth, like bioplastics and renewable fuels production, with the ambition of getting to net zero in Europe by 2050.  

Virginie Merini, senior vice president renewable fuels at TotalEnergies, said, “We are very pleased to launch this next stage, alongside with our partner NextChem. Signing this contract is an important milestone as it reinforces our commitment to speed up our growth on the renewable fuels market with the ambition to produce close to 5 million tons of renewable fuels a year by 2030.”