Neste Oil and Stora Enso Begin Environmental Impact Assessment for Commercial-Scale BTL Plant to Produce F-T Diesel from Wood Biomass
11 October 2010
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| Schema for the F-T BTL plant. Click to enlarge. |
Neste Oil’s and Stora Enso’s joint venture, NSE Biofuels Oy (earlier post), will begin environmental impact assessments for a commercial-scale biomass-to-liquids (BTL)biorefinery at Porvoo and at Imatra in Finland. The two locations are seen as potential alternative sites for a unit capable of producing approximately 200,000 tonnes (approximately 61 million gallons US, or 231 million liters) of Fischer-Tropsch diesel per year from wood biomass.
Matti Lievonen, CEO of Neste Oil, and Jouko Karvinen, CEO of Stora Enso said in a statement that while the results from the demonstration plant at Stora Enso’s Varkaus Mill commissioned in 2009 have been promising, no decision on the possible commercial plant has been taken. The first full-scale commercial plant would represent an investment of at least €500 million (US$697 million), they said.
Given the fact that we plan to use the latest technology, with all the challenges that brings, it is clear that major public support would be necessary to ensure the profitability of the project
—Matti Lievonen and Jouko Karvinen
The Varkaus Mill demonstration facility includes a Foster-Wheeler 12 MW gasifier. The demo facility is being used to develop technologies and engineering solutions for a commercial-scale plant. The demonstration process units will cover all stages, including drying of biomass, gasification, gas cleaning and testing of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. The entire production chain—from raw material, in the shape of wood biomass, all the way to biowax suitable for refining into renewable diesel—has been tested at the company’s demonstration plant at Varkaus.
Trial runs will continue at the Varkaus facility until next year at least. Decisions on the future of the demonstration plant and the possible go-ahead for a commercial plant will be taken in the early part of next year when the relevant business plans and cost calculations have been completed.
The public environmental impact assessment (EIA) will get under way in Porvoo and Imatra in early November and will last around a year. The Southeast Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment will act as the official body for the assessment.
The choice of Porvoo and Imatra as possible locations for a commercial-scale plant is based on the local availability of the raw materials needed and the good logistic connections on offer. The existing plants of Neste Oil and Stora Enso at Porvoo and Imatra would among other things enable efficient year-round utilization of heat energy generated in the biorefinery.
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