Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S state train operator Renfe and energy company Cepsa have teamed up with freight transporter Maersk to power up a large freight train with renewable diesel produced from used cooking oil.
Tests will run for three months on the Algeciras to Madrid rail line which in effect will become a decarbonised route.
Renewable diesel will be used on the non-electrified section between Algeciras and Cordoba, and then electricity from renewable sources all the way to the capital.
Cepsa will supply 160 tons of second-generation biofuel, produced at its La Rabida Energy Park in Huelva to cover five weekly round trips in Maersk freight trains.
The tests will total up to around 40,000 kilometres and cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 600 tons.
The test results will be analysed from technical, economic, and environmental perspectives to look into the long-term feasibility of using green fuels on non-electrified lines and to extend the option to all Maersk trains in Spain.
Non-electrified rail lines account for 35% of Spain’s railway network.
READ MORE:
- Spain’s Cepsa announces largest second generation biofuels plant in Europe to open in Andalucia
- Oil giant Repsol is constructing Spain’s first advanced biofuel plant in Murcia region
