In Finland, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and Neste Oyj have agreed on building an integrated Power-to-Liquids (e-fuels) demonstration facility at VTT Bioruukki Pilot Centre for carbon dioxide capture, green hydrogen, and e-fuels production.
Power-to-Liquids technologies are on their way to commercialization in scale, and the end product is a transportation fuel suited for aircraft, ships as well as heavy and light road vehicles.
Neste as the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel refined from waste and residues sees Power-to-Liquids as a possible complementing technology for future sustainable fuel production, said Lars Peter Lindfors, SVP, Innovation at Neste.
The development of high-temperature electrolysis, carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, and hydrocarbon synthesis technologies have been completed in the Business Finland-funded “Veturi E-fuel” research project and the integrated technology is now ready for implementation.
Build a demonstration facility
VTT and Neste have agreed to build a technology demonstration facility at VTT Bioruukki Pilot Centre, Espoo. The work has started by first modifications to the research infrastructure at VTT Bioruukki.
During 2022 and early 2023, electrolysis, CO2 capture, and synthesis units located in sea containers will be connected to each other and the VTT Bioruukki research infrastructure.
The E-fuel project pilot runs are expected to be completed during 2023. Establishing the infrastructure for Power-to-Liquids production contributes to the strengthening of cooperation between Neste and VTT in e-fuel production development from pilot to commercial scale.
We need breakthrough innovations and continued focus on research and technology development in order to provide cost-efficient and value-creating solutions for the future, Lars Peter Lindfors said.
The technology demonstration will employ CO2 capture from flue gas, hydrogen production by highly efficient high-temperature electrolysis, and fuel synthesis based on the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology.
Both the CO2 capture and electrolysis solutions are provided by Finnish project partners, Kleener Power Solutions Oy and Carbonreuse Finland Oy as well as Convion Oy and Elcogen Oy, respectively.
VTT will provide the fuel synthesis unit and technology and Neste carries out upgrading of the synthetic crude oil into fuel products fulfilling the specifications.
Support Power-to-X strategy
Neste is expecting to see a successfully integrated demonstration of technologies and to receive at least 300 kg of synthetic crude oil for synthetic fuel processing development.
Neste is actively building technology solutions and businesses to realize the commercial production of sustainable e-fuels.
Substitution of crude oil in transportation requires utilization of all sustainable solutions like renewable fuels, electric vehicles, and synthetic fuels, said Dietmar Huber, VP of Innovation Business Platform Power-to-X at Neste.
Neste started this business platform in its Innovation unit in 2019 as part of its efforts aiming toward the commercialization of a Power-to-X (PtX) strategy for synthetic e-fuel and e-feedstock production.
Such pilot projects support competence development at Neste as well as more broadly and offer a venue for focused process development and R&D in key technology areas relevant to Power-to-X commercialization.
Power-to-X is one technology pathway, which has the potential to unlock new raw material pools beyond biomass with innovation to accelerate emission reduction in transportation, ended Dietmar Huber.
