Repsol and Tecnicas Reunidas will develop technologies for industrial decarbonization
Repsol and Tecnicas Reunidas, the engineering company specialized in the design and execution of projects in the energy sector, have signed an alliance to develop proprietary technology and scale up processes to help transform the industry and advance its decarbonization.
Both companies will co-develop technology to produce sustainable biofuels and bio-based polymers from agricultural and agri-food waste. Through this project, Repsol and Tecnicas Reunidas will also promote job creation and wealth generation in rural areas at risk of depopulation.
Repsol and Tecnicas Reunidas will also develop a new process for the production of circular materials from used plastics, which will be tested in one of Repsol's industrial complexes. The energy company already includes a wide variety of 100% circular polyolefins with a lower carbon footprint in its Repsol Reciclex range, with a certified sustainable origin.
Another project to be carried out jointly by the two companies involves optimizing the energy efficiency of industrial complexes through the recovery of residual heat. The technology will be implemented first at the A Coruña Industrial Complex, as part of the global efficiency improvement plan that Repsol is already employing to transform its industrial centers into multi-energy hubs with zero net emissions, with an investment of around €400 million until 2025.
Finally, within the framework of this agreement and at an important time for the revitalization of industry, the two companies will make their knowledge, R&D resources, and experience in industrial transformation available to other companies in the sector through consultancy services aimed especially at SMEs, to advance the energy transition throughout the industrial value chain.
Technology at the service of the energy transition
Repsol and Tecnicas Reunidas share a long history in the energy sector. Both companies are characterized by carrying out their activities in many countries and with a high technological component, to a large extent developed internally thanks to their specific capabilities. The Repsol Technology Lab is a cutting-edge research center where 240 scientists and researchers, experts in different disciplines, implement and test the technologies that Repsol applies in each of its businesses. Its industrial facilities employ advanced analytical capabilities and pilot plants that replicate each of the company's industrial processes.
For its part, Tecnicas Reunidas' José Lladó Technology Center, with more than 70 scientists, stands out for its capabilities in equipment design, simulation, process optimization and scaling, and engineering, both basic and detailed.
Given the scale of the challenges of decarbonization, Repsol is committed to a multi-technological approach. Tecnicas Reunidas is a strategic ally in this journey. The collaboration of the two companies allows them to complement each other's capabilities and take advantage of their strengths to catalyze the search for technological solutions aimed at the decarbonization of multiple industrial processes in the energy sector.
Repsol, fully committed to leading the energy transition, has established a roadmap for transforming the company over the next few years. In the presentation of its Strategic Plan 2021-2025, Repsol announced intermediate emission reduction targets that were more ambitious than the previous ones, with a reduction in its carbon intensity of 12% in 2025, 25% in 2030, and 50% in 2040.
The Strategic Plan contemplates numerous actions to develop its industrial area, of great importance for the creation of employment, competitiveness, and wealth for the country. Thus, it can continue to provide society with the goods it needs, but with a low, zero, or even negative carbon footprint. Repsol is already transforming all its industrial complexes, equipping them with the latest technologies to decarbonize their processes by improving energy efficiency, promoting the circular economy, producing renewable hydrogen, and increasing the capture and use of CO2.
For several years Tecnicas Reunidas has been developing a wide range of industrial projects directly related to the energy transition in areas such as waste recycling and other circular economy initiatives, sustainable mobility using hydrogen, bioenergy generation, carbon capture, production of cleaner fuels, etc.
In addition, it systematically incorporates sustainability and energy transition criteria in the large industrial and engineering projects that form part of the core of its activities, especially with regard to reducing emissions and obtaining higher levels of energy efficiency in the industrial plants it develops for its clients.