Oy Kati Ab, a long-term drilling contractor of Keliber, a company developing a European lithium project (earlier post), has started to use Neste MY Non Road Diesel renewable fuel oil in the drill rig at Keliber’s exploration site in Central Ostrobothnia. The measure will reduce the emissions caused by drilling by more than 50%.

Neste introduced Neste MY Non Road Diesel—suitable for construction, forest machine contracting, agriculture and heating—to the market in January 2021. The renewable fuel oil is a significant new addition to the renewable diesel known in road transport.

Neste MY Non Road Diesel is comparable to Neste MY Renewable Diesel used in road transport in terms of the raw material base and emissions reduction. In addition to a smaller carbon footprint, the use of renewable fuel oil reduces local emissions produced by older machines.

In 2021, Neste MY Non Road Diesel is available only with limited amounts and in some locations. Distribution is made through direct delivery from Neste’s Porvoo terminal.

When we learned that Neste MY Non Road Diesel was available also in Northern Finland this autumn, Keliber was the first company we proposed to introduce it, and we received a positive answer right away.

—Tapani Niskakangas, Acting Managing Director at Kati

According to calculations made at Kati, the switch from regular fuel oil to renewable fuel makes it possible to reduce emissions by 50% or even more. It is estimated that during 2020 drilling at the Keliber work site generated emissions of 78.04 tonnes of CO₂e, of which 95.2% was caused by fuel usage. If the biofuel had been used, the estimated emissions would have been 37.90 t CO₂e or 51% less. The emission reduction (40.14 t CO₂e) is equivalent to 286,714.3 kilometers by car, which would take one 7.15 times around the globe.

Kati started to use renewable fuel at the Keliber site during the second week of December. According to Tapani Niskakangas, the switch was easy: the machines run as smoothly as they do on fossil fuel. When it comes to safety issues, the renewable fuel does not endanger water organisms or human health. The price tag for the fuel is about 25% bigger than for fossil fuel, which means an increase of about 2% in the total drilling cost.

Oy Kati Ab Kalajoki is an expert in ore exploration and diamond core drilling. The company has a certified environmental management system since 2004. Cooperation with Keliber on the lithium project has continued for about 20 years. In recent years, Keliber has had continuous exploration and resource drilling operations, and the annual total drilling has varied from 10 to 20 kilometers.