Blog
26th September 2020
Total SE is a French oil and gas company founded in 1924. It is among the seven “supermajor” oil companies in the world as Total has been dedicated to providing better energy that is cleaner, more affordable, more reliable, and accessible to as many people as possible. Within its net-zero strategy framework, Total is set to convert its Grandpuits refinery into a zero crude platform by 2024. The EUR 500 million project visions at accomplishing four new industrial activities, namely, production of renewable diesel primarily intended for the aviation industry, production of bioplastics, plastics recycling, and operation of two photovoltaic solar power plants.
The process of conversion itself will occur in a series of steps starting from the very first step of discontinuing crude oil refining at the platform, planned to be a 2021 first-quarter goal. The storage of petroleum products is expected to end by 2023. The next complete year, 2024, would go off in the construction and conversion into the proposed facility.
The decision to end its oil refining comes from various factors, one of which is the post-audit leak detection on the 260-kilometer Ile-de-France pipeline (PILF) that carries crude oil from the Port of Le Havre to the Grandpuits refinery. As a consequence, the plant was suspended for 5 months and the government had restricted the company to operate at 70% capacity. To avoid losses, a EUR 600 million resurrection was required to be done. Instead, this EUR 500 million transformation would not only fix the under-capacity production issue but also will help in producing much more cleaner, renewable, and sustainable energy.
“With the industrial repurposing of the Grandpuits refinery into a zero-crude platform focused on energies of the future connected with biomass and the circular economy, Total is demonstrating its commitment to the energy transition and reaffirming its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2050,” said Bernard Pinatel, President of Total Refining & Chemicals. “Grandpuits will remain a major industrial site drawing on the know-how and expertise of its teams, and our partner firms will be playing a key role as well.”, he continued.
Moreover, this industrial transition wouldn’t let the consumers or employees down. The Donges refinery is set to cover up for Grandpuits while only 150 existing jobs will be lost post-conversion. The three year transition period is expected to provide 1000 jobs involving the construction itself. Furthermore, 15 additional jobs will be created on the Grandpuits site in a packaging unit connected to the bioplastics unit. The partner companies working on the platform will contribute to another 200 full-time job opportunities against 300 such job opportunities that were existent. The people losing their jobs will not be at any sort of disadvantage either as they will be relocated to other sites, accommodated in one of the above mentioned new openings, or provided early retirement and the benefits.
The bio-refinery unit, an element of the new facility to be commissioned in 2024, will be able to process 400,000 tons per year with a potential annual production of 1,70,000 tons of sustainable aviation fuel which will be the primary target of this unit, 1,20,000 tons of renewable diesel, and 50,000 tons of renewable naphtha, the main ingredient in bioplastic production. Biofuels are the solution to the future’s energy demand as well as carbon emission control as they are known to be 50% more efficient when compared to their conventional counterparts, fossil fuels.
The second element would be a 50/50 joint venture between Total and Corbion, Total Corbion PLA which will be constructing Europe’s first PLA manufacturing plant. Bioplastics are produced totally from sugar and are biodegradable and renewable. In 2018, Corbion and Total were successful in establishing a PLA plant in Thailand. The market for PLA is growing up to 15% annually. The European plant would have a production capacity of 1,00,000 tons.
Based on new innovative recycling technology, the plastics recycling plant, the third element, will convert plastic wastes into a liquid called TACOIL through a pyrolysis melting process. TACOIL will then be used to make polymers identical. to the virgin ones. The recycled plastics would be available for food-grade applications. This new unit will help Total meet its objective of producing 30% of its polymers from recycled materials by 2030.
Lastly, Total is looking forward to building two photovoltaic solar plants, one with a capacity of 28 MWp (at the Grandpuits site) and the other with a capacity of 24 MWp (at the Gargenville site), which will contribute to Total’s ambition of providing green electricity to all its industrial sites in Europe. Total Quadran, a wholly-owned Total affiliate that specializes in renewable energy development and production in France would be responsible for its building and operation. Total is committed to pursuing meaningful dialogue with employee representative organizations and will be initiating discussions with those bodies in late September, which is mandatory under the French law.