In Finland, NordFuel Oy is planning to build a biorefinery that would produce fuel ethanol from wood. NordFuel has disclosed that it will also replace an existing peat-fired thermal energy plant in Haapavesi operated by its parent company municipal energy utility Kanteleen Voima Oy with a new biomass-fired industrial boiler.
The engineering of the bioethanol plant will continue based on a new wood-fired boiler
According to a statement, Kanteleen Voima’s board decided on March 26, 2021, to produce process steam used by the NordFuel biorefinery with a new steam boiler.
The main fuel for the boiler will be lignin, a by-product of the biorefinery by-product lignin. In addition, the boiler uses bark, raw turpentine, and sludges as fuel.
NordFuel Oy’s planned biorefinery will have a design capacity to produce 65,000 tonnes of 2G bioethanol annually, along with lignin pellets and biogas.
Future proof the project
The decision to replace the old peat-fired boiler with a smaller steam boiler became topical when the EUR 24.5 million subsidy granted by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in June 2020 preconditioned the use of 100 percent renewable fuels.
All fossil fuels, including peat, are excluded.
The decision on the choice of energy production method is a significant step for our biorefinery project. Fuel to be used is an important starting point in designing the biorefinery because we aim to utilize all raw materials as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, the targets set for reducing peat use as well as foreseen political and economic instruments mean that we cannot utilize peat in our process. In short, in the future, we cannot use peat anymore, and the fuel for the biorefinery will be different wood fractions and by-products of the biorefinery. Despite this NordFuel project is progressing as planned and the next step is when we can decide on the bioethanol technology provider, said Matti Asikainen, CEO at NodFuel.
