Norway-based sustainable biochemicals company Circa Group AS and Finland-headed forest industry and energy technology provider Valmet Oyj have signed a Heads of Agreement to realize and optimize Circa's proprietary "Furacell" production process at scale through the ReSolute project and future large-scale plants.
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According to a statement, Valmet will be the main process technology and equipment supplier, and actively contribute to accelerating the development of Circa’s large-scale production plants.
Establishing strategic relationships with strong industry partners is needed to deliver Circa’s ambitions in the current challenging global environment. We are very pleased to join forces with Valmet, which provides great support for Circa’s growth ambitions and leverages Valmet’s strong focus on driving the green shift, said Tony Duncan, CEO of Circa Group.
The cooperation follows “positive engagement and extensive work” with Valmet over the past six months and considerably strengthens Circa’s ability to build and deliver its plan to become a large-scale producer of sustainable biochemicals.
The work has upgraded the ReSolute plant to target annual production of 1 100 tonnes of the biosolvent “Cyrene”, utilizing internal energy supply from biochar created in the process, enhancing the sustainability profile of the plant.
Leverage bioenergy experience and expertise
Valmet is a global and leading supplier of energy solutions with more than 220 years in the industry.
The company’s experience with fluidized bed (FB) boilers and biomass-to-energy solutions will be a significant resource in successfully realizing and optimizing the Furacell production process at scale.
Valmet aims to be the equipment and process supplier for the biomass handling, pyrolizer, and energy production portions and plant automation of Circa’s future commercial-scale plants.
Following the design upgrade, the ReSolute plant will very closely resemble a small-scale version of the larger scale FC6 plant.
A long-term strategic approach to the development of the Furacell process will reduce the cost and timeline risk of future plants.
The agreed long-term objective is to develop deployable 10 000 – 15 000 tonne per annum Furacell modules capable of operating separately or in multiples, depending on local feedstock and supporting infrastructure availability.
The partnership will focus on executing the ReSolute project, building expertise, and allowing the steady development of FC6, our first large-scale commercial plant, said Tony Duncan.
By doing so, Circa will deliver on its primary objective of reaching over 80 000 tonnes per annum of Cyrene production capacity by 2030, complementing the Valmet vision to be a partner of choice in the rapidly expanding biochemical markets.
Sustainability is at the core of Valmet’s business strategy and operations, and by providing experience and expertise to support companies like Circa, Valmet will be achieving its own goals of converting renewable resources into sustainable results. We have been highly impressed by the team and ambition at Circa and look very much forward to working closely with them to realize their objectives, said Bertel Karlstedt, President, Pulp and Energy business line, Valmet.
Following this agreement, Circa and Valmet are moving to execute the ReSolute project, and in the second half of 2022 will initiate conceptual engineering for the FC6 plant.
