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Total and Neste collaborate on bio-based isoalkane products

| By Mary Bailey

Total S.A.’s (Paris, France; www.total.com) Total Fluides (www.totalspecialfluids.com) and Neste Oil Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.nesteoil.com) have signed a collaborative agreement for the supply of Neste’s proprietary NEXBTL renewable isoalkane to be used by Total Fluides as feedstock to produce innovative bio-based solvents and technical fluids.

Total Fluides will develop and market a new line of renewable fluids for numerous applications, such as paints and coatings, drilling fluids, solvents for emulsion polymerization, printing-ink fluids, emollients for cosmetics and many other industrial and automotive fluids.

“The use of bio-sourced raw materials will bring innovative solutions to the market. The first feedbacks from our customers who have been testing our new fluids are very positive and very encouraging” says Joël Navaron, Total Fluides’ president. “The development of bio-based solvents and technical fluids is in line with Total Fluides’ strategy to be a responsible actor and to constantly widen its offer of very high-performance products to its customers.”

“The bio-based solvents produced from NEXBTL renewable isoalkane using Total Fluides’ advancedtechnology process are ideal for downstream use, as their premium quality means that no modifications need to be made to existing processes or production methods.” explains Kaisa Hietala, Neste’s executive vice president, Renewable Products. “This new agreement is an important step to growing our foothold in the chemical industry, where the demand for renewable components is on the increase.”

Neste’s NEXBTL renewable products have a comparable composition to that of their fossil equivalents and, thanks to Total Fluides’ advanced technology, they can be transformed into materials with unique properties. Total Fluides will produce these new bio-based high-quality special fluids in its plant in France. Neste produces NEXBTL products intended for chemical-industry use at its renewable products refineries in the Netherlands, Singapore and Finland.