Metso, Fortum, UPM, VTT Jointly Developing Clean Energy with Domestic Bio-oil
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Finnish companies Metso, UPM, and VTT have developed a biomass-based bio-oil production concept to provide an alternative to fossil fuels. Since June of this year, Metso reports that its R&D Center in Tampere, Finland, has been producing high-quality bio-oil from sawdust and forest residues. Fortum, also a Finland-based company, is now joining this development project.
The consortium has developed a bio-oil production process in which a reactor, linked to a conventional fluidized bed boiler, can first gasify solid biomass and then compress it into liquid form. Through their five months of pilot testing and utilization of the R&D Center's 2 MW plant, the partners have improved the bio-oil production methods and the efficiency of the process. Already, more than 20 tons of bio-oil have been produced. An alternative to heavy and light fuel oils, "domestic bio-oil decreases the burden on the atmosphere," Metso points out.
The Finnish technology developers are committed to ongoing improvements in the production of bio-oil from renewable resources. It is the companies' vision that combining bio-oil production with bioenergy-based power plants will also provide them with new business potential, as well as remarkable cost and efficiency benefits. The companies' agreement for bio-oil test production extends through 2010.
Fortum now brings the important energy producer and end-product user angle to the research and development project. "The long-term objective of Fortum is to be a company whose production does not cause carbon dioxide emissions. Use of bio-oil as a carbon-dioxide-neutral fuel is a promising option in our range of methods," notes Strategy Director Maria Paatero-Kaarnakari of Fortum.
Metso is in charge of technological development of the pyrolysis reactor integrated into the fluidized bed boiler. Kari Kuukkanen, VP for Technology in Metso's Power business line, says that "bio-oil is an alternative for fueling bioenergy-producing power plants and oil boilers, and it will also be able to be used as raw material for chemicals and biodiesel production in the future. We plan to improve the energy-efficiency of the process still further."
UPM adds to the project expertise in the use of biomass as raw material. "Our target is to utilize all parts of a tree. Bark, stumps, and small trees can be utilized in the process to produce liquid fuels in a cost effective way. The UPM mills provide an ideal infrastructure for developing the production processes," says Petri Kukkonen, VP for Biofuels at UPM.
The bio-oil production process is based on VTT's earlier R&D and patents. In the test production phase, VTT focuses on the control and quality of the bio-oil. In the longer term, also bio-oil refining will be developed, for example, for feeding a conventional oil refinery. The projects are subsidized by the EU and Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.
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