Spanish energy and chemicals company Cepsa has renamed itself Moeve. This is described as part of the Positive Motion strategy, under which the company is seeking to position itself as “a leader in sustainable energy and mobility” with most of its profits coming from sustainable activities by 2030.

The company is already decarbonising its operations through an €8 billion investment strategy. Over 60% of this will be dedicated to sustainable businesses, including the production of green hydrogen, 2G biofuels, sustainable chemical products and ultra-fast electric charging.

Cepsa Química has introduced the first products in its new line of sustainable chemicals. Both are derived from biomass and contain at least 68% sustainable or alternative carbon sources using the mass balance approach, with equivalent performance to existing products based on fossil sources.

These are NextLAB, which is a fossil-free linear alkylbenzene (LAB) for use in the production of biodegradable household laundry and cleaning products; and NextPhenol, which will replace phenol in automotive, construction and pharmaceutical applications.

Cepsa, the world’s largest producer of linear alkylbenzene (LAB) and cumene, has begun operations at its first site to use Detal technology in place of hydrofluoric acid, in the Puente Mayorga chemical plant at San Roque in southern Spain. LAB is the most widely used biodegradable surfactant in laundry detergents.

Cepsa developed the patented Detal technology with UOP. This was named in the Spanish section of the 2020 European Business Awards for the Environment and also won a technological innovation award at the ICIS Surfactants Awards, among others.