Sweden awards €49m investment grant for Chemrec biofuels project

29 September 2009

The Swedish Energy R&D Board is to provide an investment grant for demonstration in industrial scale of the Chemrec technology for production of renewable motor fuels.

The plant will be built at the Domsjö Fabriker biorefinery in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The investment grant of up to SEK500m (€49m) is contingent on approval by the EU Directorate General for Competition according to the State aid rules. The energy raw material for the biofuels is forest harvest residues, primarily branches and tree-tops.

The plant is based on the Chemrec technology for black liquor gasification combined with technology from the petrochemical industry. Investment cost is calculated at about SEK3bn (€300m) for a capacity of about 100,000 tonnes or 40 million gallons per year of the renewable motor fuels BioDME and Biomethanol. During the pre-feasibility study phase liquor from Domsjö Fabriker has been gasified in the Chemrec development plant in Piteå with very good results.

‘The Chemrec technology has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95 per cent compared to gasoline and diesel, replace imported fossil fuels with renewable and to create improved profitability and employment in the forest-based industry,’ said Chemrec COO Jonas Rudberg.

The Domsjö plant will have the capacity to supply well over 2000 heavy trucks with fuel. With fully implemented renewable fuels production at all pulp mills in Sweden, half of all heavy road transports could be propelled by BioDME. The technology can replace half of all fuels used for heavy road transports with BioDME and Biomethanol. At the same time total Swedish fossil CO2 emissions would be reduced by ten per cent or about 6 million tonnes and replace fossil fuel imports worth about SEK10bn (€1bn) annually.

‘We continuously work with product and business development to strengthen the competitive position of our biorefinery, Domsjö Fabriker. With this planned biofuels production we are adding another value-added product to our current product portfolio of specialty cellulose, lignosulfonate and ethanol,’ said Ola Hildingsson CEO of Domsjö Fabriker.

The Domsjö Fabriker biorefinery produces specialty cellulose, lignosulfonate and ethanol at its facilities near central Örnsköldsvik, 550km north of Stockholm. The biorefinery employs about 340 persons and generates about $220m in revenue.

Chemrec is a Swedish company developing and commercialising technology for black liquor gasification, which when integrated into a pulp mill makes it possibille to produce large quantities of renewable motor fuels or power from biomass. The company’s shareholders include VantagePoint Venture Partners, Volvo Technology Transfer, Environmental Technologies Fund and Nykomb Synergetics.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: biodeisel, biofuel

This story was published on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 4:07 pm and is filed under Europe, biomass/biofuel, companies, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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