The La Mède refinery is a biorefinery that previously operated as a traditional fossil fuel refinery owned by TotalEnergies in Châteauneuf-les Martigues near Marseille, France, and on the Etang de Berre.[1] [2] The plant includes about 250 hectares.
The biorefinery has a capacity of 500,000 tones of biofuels (hydrotreated vegetable oil) a year.[3] The plant conversion, started in 2015, finished in 2019 with EUR 275 million of capital expenditure. In 2021, the plant announced production of aviation biofuel made from cooking oil.[4] [5]
A 2018 agreement with the French government capped the amount of palm oil production at the facility at 300 000 tonnes, while requiring at least 50 000 tonnes of French-grown rapeseed oil.
Environmental activists have criticized the plant for its reliance on palm oil, which has a track record of global environmental destruction and human rights violations.[6] Local farmers represented by Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles also expressed concerns about palm oil competing with local oil production.[7] [8]
The plant entered operation in 1935 as a crude oil and petrochemical plant.[9] The plant stopped production of petroleum in 2016.[10]
In 1992 the plant had a gas explosion.