Bionaphtha is the light co-product of hydrotreating fats and oils into HVO and SAF, and it has two possible homes with very different economics. Into a steam cracker it becomes certified renewable feedstock for bio-based polymers, and the premium comes from the claim a brand owner can make downstream. Into gasoline blending it is a good blend component and prices much closer to fossil naphtha. We broker it between producers and both sets of buyers, and which route is open depends almost entirely on the certification.
- 1Produced alongside HVO and SAF
- 2Light fraction separated
- 3Cleaned on chlorine and oxygenates
- 4Sold as steam cracker feed
- 5Mass balance follows the molecule
Bionaphtha is a co-product: volume follows HVO and SAF output and cannot be dialled up on its own. Petrochemical buyers want it as a drop-in cracker feed, which puts it in competition with road fuel for the same barrel.
Two routes, two prices
Physically bionaphtha is a paraffinic light hydrocarbon in the naphtha range, and it is a perfectly ordinary cracker or blending feed. Commercially it is two different products.
The petrochemical route is where the value is. A cracker takes bionaphtha under ISCC PLUS mass balance, and the polymer producer downstream sells a certified bio-based grade to a brand owner with a renewable-content commitment. The molecules are indistinguishable from fossil-derived ones once cracked; what is really being bought and sold is an auditable chain of custody.
The gasoline route is straightforward and always available: a blend component with good properties and no certification requirement beyond the fuel regime. It sets the floor price. If the certification does not support the petrochemical claim, this is where the product goes, and the difference between the two outcomes is the entire commercial question.
Two outlets, two completely different prices
Bio-naphtha comes off an HVO or SAF unit as a co-product, and where it goes next decides what it is worth. There are two real outlets and they value it for opposite reasons, which is why a single price question is usually the wrong question.
| Petrochemical cracker feed | Gasoline blending | |
|---|---|---|
| What the buyer is buying | Renewable carbon that ends up in plastic | Energy content and octane behaviour |
| What they pay for | The certificate and the mass balance claim | The molecule |
| Key parameters | Paraffinicity, sulphur, chlorides, metals, final boiling point | RVP, octane, oxygenate content |
| Certification | ISCC PLUS is usually the currency | ISCC EU or the national fuel scheme |
| Who signs | A polymer producer or their broker | A blender or trader |
The plastics route is normally where the value is, because a polymer producer under recycled and renewable content pressure is buying a claim they cannot easily get elsewhere, while a gasoline blender is buying a barrel they can get anywhere. That is not a rule and it moves with the market, but it is the first thing to test rather than the last.
Sulphur and chlorides matter more than sellers expect on the cracker route. A cracker is protecting furnace tubes and downstream catalyst, and the tolerances are tighter than a fuel blender's. Get those two numbers before offering, because they decide which conversation you are allowed to have.
Bio-based is not the same as circular
This distinction catches people out constantly, and it matters because brand owners' commitments usually specify one or the other.
Bionaphtha supports a bio-based claim: the carbon originated in biomass. Plastic pyrolysis oil supports a circular claim: the carbon came from recycled plastic waste. Both go into the same steam cracker, both travel on mass balance chain of custody, and both produce polymer that is chemically identical to conventional. But a converter with a *recycled content* target under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation cannot satisfy it with bio-based material, and a brand owner with a *renewable feedstock* commitment may not want circular.
So the first question on any bionaphtha enquiry is not price or volume but which claim the end buyer needs to make. See plastic pyrolysis oil for the circular side of the same cracker.
What gets agreed
| Certification scheme and scope | ISCC PLUS for the petrochemical route; ISCC EU or REDcert where a fuel outlet applies. |
|---|---|
| Claim type | Bio-based, and whether the downstream buyer needs bio-based specifically rather than circular. |
| Mass balance period | The accounting window, aligned to the delivery schedule. |
| Feedstock | Which fats and oils; Annex IX status where a fuel outlet is in play. |
| GHG saving | The figure on the proof of sustainability where the claim depends on it. |
| Distillation range and PIONA | Paraffins, isoparaffins, olefins, naphthenes, aromatics, cracker yield depends on it. |
| Sulphur and nitrogen | Very low from hydrotreated origin; still verified. |
| Metals and silicon | Carry-over from feedstock pretreatment. |
| RVP and density | Relevant where gasoline blending is the outlet. |
| Delivery basis | Parcel tanker, barge, isotank; terminal and tank availability. |
What a bionaphtha buyer will ask you
We act for HVO and SAF producers placing the naphtha co-product, which is often treated as an afterthought internally despite being a genuine value stream, and for crackers, polymer producers and blenders sourcing it.
Producers frequently undersell this material simply by offering it into the fuel pool because that is the easy call. Where the certification supports a petrochemical claim, the difference is worth the effort of finding the right buyer, and that is exactly the kind of introduction a broker exists to make.
Frequently asked questions
What is bio-naphtha used for?
Two things, and they pay differently. As a petrochemical cracker feedstock it becomes renewable plastic, and the buyer is purchasing a certified claim under mass balance. As a gasoline blend component it is bought for energy and octane. The plastics route is usually where the value is, because a polymer producer under recycled and renewable content pressure cannot easily get that claim elsewhere.
Is bio-naphtha the same as renewable naphtha?
Yes, the terms are used interchangeably. It is the light paraffinic cut from hydrotreating fats and oils, produced alongside HVO and SAF in the same plant. Because it is a co-product, availability follows the operator's HVO and SAF economics rather than demand for naphtha itself.
What does a cracker screen bio-naphtha on?
Paraffinicity, sulphur, chlorides, metals and the final boiling point. Sulphur and chlorides matter more than sellers expect: a cracker is protecting furnace tubes and downstream catalyst, and its tolerances are tighter than a fuel blender's. Get those two numbers before offering, because they decide which conversation you are allowed to have.
What is bionaphtha?
The light hydrocarbon co-product of hydrotreating fats and oils into HVO renewable diesel or HEFA SAF. It is a paraffinic naphtha-range material that can be cracked into bio-based petrochemicals or blended into gasoline. It is bio-based rather than recycled, which determines which downstream claims it can support.
What is the difference between bionaphtha and plastic pyrolysis oil?
The origin of the carbon and therefore the claim. Bionaphtha comes from biomass and supports a bio-based claim; plastic pyrolysis oil comes from waste plastic and supports a circular or recycled-content claim. Both feed the same steam crackers under mass balance chain of custody and both yield chemically identical polymer, but they are not interchangeable for a buyer with a specific target to meet.
Why does bionaphtha sell at a premium to fossil naphtha?
Only when it goes to a steam cracker under ISCC PLUS mass balance, because that lets the polymer producer downstream sell a certified bio-based grade to a brand owner with a renewable-content commitment. The premium is for the auditable chain of custody, not for the hydrocarbon. Into gasoline blending it prices much closer to fossil naphtha.
What certification does bionaphtha need for the petrochemical route?
ISCC PLUS with mass balance chain of custody is the standard route in Europe. Check that the certificate scope covers the actual product and activity and that the mass balance accounting period lines up with the delivery schedule, a valid certificate that is out of period causes exactly the same problem as no certificate.
Can bionaphtha be used in gasoline?
Yes. It is a good blend component and this route is always available, which is why it effectively sets the floor price. It requires no certification beyond the applicable fuel regime, so it is where the material goes when the petrochemical claim cannot be supported.
Do producers undervalue their bionaphtha?
Frequently, yes. It is a co-product rather than the main output, so it often gets offered into the fuel pool by default because that is the simplest call internally. Where the certification supports a petrochemical claim, finding the right cracker or polymer buyer is worth the effort, and that introduction is precisely what a broker is for.
Market news
Recent headlines from across the feedstock and renewable fuel sector. Nothing specific to this market has come through the wires lately, so this is the wider view. The links go to the publisher; we do not host or edit their reporting, and a headline here is not our endorsement of it. Scroll for more.
- Kimchi waste could become viable feedstock for bioplastics
- Braskem biobased polymer helps Deterra drug disposal pouch earn packaging awards
- Eni and PETRONAS to explore high-performance bio-gasoline
- Linglong signs $2 billion Egypt investment MoU
- BTMA to represent European national associations at Tyres Europe board meetings
- Osaka Gas claims STS LNG bunkering first in Osaka Bay
- ISWG-GHG 22: Non-profits react
- USTC brings Copenhagen-based offices together in new hub
- ORLEN instigates new Baltic regional energy initiative
- TotalEnergies Lubmarine launches lubricant for 4-stroke medium speed marine engines
- IMO carbon price heads for December showdown
- LyondellBasell: Pyrolysis Reactors Installed for MoReTec Plant in Wesseling
- Sustainable aviation fuel pioneer completes successful trials
- Louis Dreyfus Company to generate biogas from citrus waste
- Nature by Design: A decade of IUCN, Monaco collaboration driving circular solutions for biodiversity
- European Digital Sustainability Skills Conference
- UCL reacts to IMO ISWG-GHG: ‘Steady progress on the Net Zero Framework’ made but ‘high uncertainty’ remains
- ISWG-GHG 22: ‘Genuine willingness’ for further NZF progress, observes Chair
18 headlines, updated automatically. Last refreshed .
Sources and further reading
Primary sources for the rules and figures on this page, so you can check them yourself. Legislation is amended: always read the consolidated text on the date that matters to you.
Who to ask about Bionaphtha
Just ask. Bionaphtha to place, or sourcing certified renewable cracker feed? Tell us the scheme and the claim the buyer needs. You get Bart van den Brug on the other end, same working day, in English or Dutch, and across the team also in French, Portuguese, Polish, Czech and Russian.
On how we work: on the feedstocks and fuels on this site we are a broker. We never take title, we do not trade our own book, and we are paid a commission on business that concludes. Additives are the one exception: those we also buy and sell for our own account, and we say in which capacity we are acting before you commit to anything. Either way you will hear it from us when the answer is no, or when your parcel is not ready for the conversation you want to have. A market read or a second opinion on a specification costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Happy to look at whatever you have, even if it is half an analysis and a question.
+31 6 115 83 448
bart@sustainablecommodities.eu
Sustainable Commodities 3 B.V., Lemmer, the Netherlands
Ask about Bionaphtha
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Last reviewed 08 September 2026. Regulatory references are given for orientation and are not legal advice: verify against the current Official Journal text before contracting.