EcoCeres has partnered with AstraZeneca to supply hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) for backup power generation at AstraZeneca’s medicines manufacturing facility in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
The renewable fuel, produced from used cooking oil and verified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system, is being used as a replacement for conventional fossil diesel in the site’s backup generator system, according to EcoCeres.
The companies describe the deployment as the first HVO application in China’s pharmaceutical sector. The initiative is designed to reduce emissions from backup power while maintaining the reliability required for critical medicines manufacturing operations.
HVO replaces conventional diesel in backup generators
HVO is a waste-based renewable diesel produced by processing feedstocks such as used cooking oil. Unlike conventional biodiesel, HVO can be used as a drop-in fuel in compatible diesel equipment without requiring a fundamental change to the existing fuel system.
At AstraZeneca’s Wuxi manufacturing site, the fuel is being used for backup electricity generation. This provides an alternative to fossil diesel for an application where fuel reliability and operational resilience are critical.
EcoCeres said its HVO used in the project can reduce lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 90% compared with conventional diesel, depending on the relevant fuel and feedstock comparison.
The company has increasingly targeted backup-power applications in sectors where uninterrupted energy supply is important. Earlier in 2026, EcoCeres announced HVO deployments involving data-centre backup generation in China and elsewhere in Asia-Pacific.
Used cooking oil provides the renewable feedstock
The AstraZeneca application uses HVO derived from used cooking oil, creating a pathway for a waste stream to be converted into renewable fuel for industrial energy use.
This feedstock route also links the project to the wider circular-economy potential of waste-based fuels. Instead of relying exclusively on fossil diesel for standby generation, industrial facilities can use waste-derived renewable fuels within existing diesel-based backup systems where technically appropriate.
EcoCeres said the fuel supplied to AstraZeneca is verified under ISCC, providing sustainability certification for the renewable fuel supply chain.
AstraZeneca targets lower Scope 1 and 2 emissions
For AstraZeneca, the HVO deployment forms part of its wider efforts to reduce emissions from manufacturing operations.
Ewa Maqdosi, Vice President, AstraZeneca Wuxi Manufacturing Site, said the collaboration would support more sustainable and resilient operations while maintaining the operational resilience required by the facility.
The company has stated that its Ambition Zero Carbon strategy includes a goal of reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions across the company by 98% by the end of 2026.
AstraZeneca has also been deploying renewable-energy solutions at its Wuxi operations. The company says clean heat supplied through a collaboration with China Resources Gas and Everbright Environment provides approximately 36 GWh of biomethane and biomethane-based steam to the Wuxi manufacturing site.
HVO expands beyond transport into industrial backup power
The Wuxi project highlights an application for HVO beyond conventional road-fuel markets.
Backup generators are typically operated infrequently, but they are essential to facilities such as pharmaceutical plants, hospitals, data centres and other critical infrastructure. Their relatively low operating hours can make direct electrification or major changes to backup systems more complex, particularly where high reliability is required.
HVO offers an alternative pathway because waste-derived renewable fuel can be supplied to diesel-based equipment as a drop-in replacement, subject to equipment compatibility and fuel specifications.
EcoCeres has recently announced several initiatives targeting this market. In April 2026, it launched an HVO backup-power pilot with GDS Holdings at a data centre in North China. In May, it announced a completed HVO backup-fuel pilot with Bridge Data Centres in Southeast Asia.
China emerging as a market for renewable backup fuels
The AstraZeneca agreement adds pharmaceutical manufacturing to the growing list of Chinese industrial applications being explored for HVO.
The development comes as companies in sectors with high reliability requirements look for ways to reduce fossil-fuel use without replacing existing backup generation infrastructure altogether.
For HVO suppliers, these applications can also create demand outside road transport and aviation, particularly where waste-based fuels can provide emissions reductions without requiring major modifications to existing diesel equipment.
EcoCeres said the AstraZeneca collaboration forms part of its strategy to expand renewable fuel applications across China’s industrial sector.
Bioenergy Business Analysis
The AstraZeneca-EcoCeres project illustrates a specific but potentially scalable role for HVO in industrial decarbonisation replacing fossil diesel in backup systems where reliability remains the primary operational requirement.
The significance is less about the volume of fuel consumed by a single backup system and more about the application model. Pharmaceutical manufacturing, data centres and other critical facilities can require standby generation even as their operators pursue lower Scope 1 emissions. Waste-based HVO provides one route to address that emissions source without necessarily replacing the underlying generator infrastructure.
The broader opportunity will depend on sustainable feedstock availability, certification, fuel economics, equipment compatibility and the ability of suppliers to establish reliable regional supply chains. EcoCeres’ recent projects in Chinese data centres and other Asian markets suggest that backup power is emerging as one of the industrial use cases being explored for HVO alongside transport and aviation.
