A new team has been created, led by Global Bioenergies, to produce fuel from forest residues. The first step of the partnership, that also includes Preem, Sekab and Sveaskog, will be to conduct a conceptual scope study for building the first biorefinery in Sweden. Back in April the consortium announced its partnership with partial financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency. Since then, the team has selected the Isobutene process developed by Global Bioenergies for the conversion of residue wood derived sugars into a high performance bioethanol. Going forward, the project will be carried out as part of Sweden’s “Bio-based Gasoline Project.”
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“Sveaskog’s priority is to develop new uses for forest biomass,” noted Ann-Britt Edfast, R&D Manager at Sveaskog. “Our assessment is that forest resources will play a crucial role in the green transition to a fossil-free society. The value chain developed here is of particular interest for Sveaskog since it can use a range of forestry derived by-products and targets a drop-in molecule.”
Over the next several months, the team will study various plant scenarios that will enable the profitable conversion of forestry residues and products into bio-isooctane, a 100-octane rated fuel produced from bio-isobutene. The well to wheel project will include Sveaskog’s foresty activities; the company owns and manages 14 percent of the 30 million hectares of forest land in Sweden. The supply chain will also include Sekab’s CelluAPP(R) biomass to sugar conversion process, Global Bioenergies’ wood-sugars to Isobutene process and Preem’s gasoline production processes, blending and retailing activities.
The project will allow Sekab to showcase its CelluAPP (R) technology. “The Bio-Based Gasoline Project will enable the large scale commercial deployment of our CelluAPP(R) wood-conversion technology and will demonstrate how it can open the forestry sector to the vast new array of markets and in the first instance to high performance bio-based gasoline,” explained Thore Lindgren, vice president of Sekab E-Technology AB.
Global Bioenergies’ technology will also play a vital role in the value chain. Marc Delcourt, CEO of Global Bioenergies further said of the wood to energy project, “The diversification of feedstock has always been central to the development of our Isobutene technology as it opens new territories and markets to our process. Following a first plant project in France based on sugar-beet we are delighted to now work at its deployment downstream of the Swedish forestry industry”.
Stefan Nystrom, Business Development Engineer at Preem added, “The ability to produce drop-in, high performance bio-based gasoline in Sweden from residuals of the Swedish forestry is a central brick in our strategy and commitment to the environment. This partnership offers an entirely new technical solution to produce well known, high performance molecules such as isooctane and to establish a new bridge between our country’s forest and our consumers need for sustainable energy sources.”