Bilfinger has been commissioned by the Swiss specialty chemical company Clariant to deliver EPCM (engineering, procurement, overall project and construction management) services for the construction of their commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production plant using Clariant’s sunliquid® technology in southwest Romania.
Gevo, Inc., the bioenergy company headquartered in Colorado (USA), launched the concept of Net-Zero Projects for the production of energy dense liquid hydrocarbons using renewable energy and Gevo’s proprietary technology. The concept of a Net-Zero Project is to convert renewable energy (photosynthetic, wind, renewable natural gas, biogas) from a variety of sources into energy dense liquid hydrocarbons, that when burned in traditional engines, have the potential to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the whole lifecycle of the liquid fuel: from the way carbon is captured from the atmosphere, processed to make liquid fuel products, and including the end use (burning as a fuel for cars, planes, trucks, and ships).
Neste and Avfuel Corporation joined forces to create an efficient, continuous supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the United States. Neste will provide Avfuel with SAF in volumes able to meet the growing demands of Avfuel’s customers, including fixed base operators (FBOs), airports, flight departments, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and commercial operators. Avfuel will be a branded SAF distributor for Neste, and will sell it under the brand name Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring and Valmet last December bagan construction of the 3D fibre product pilot plant in Äänekoski, Finland. The pilot plant enables testing and further development of the novel process for producing of a new type of packaging solution.The greenfield building will host the pilot line, which converts wood fibre into ready-to-use 3D fibre products, which, in turn, can replace similar packaging solutions made from plastic and aluminium. The goal of the pilot plant project is to develop a new competitive product and the supporting production process and equipment.
“Austria’s first plant for the production of second-generation bioethanol is now up and running in Hallein and we have started our trailblazing cooperation with OMV. With our advanced biofuels, we are taking a responsible approach to resources and helping to reduce fossil fuel use. We will continue to pursue our long-term strategy of ‘Green AustroCel’, uniting sustainability and economic success”, said Jörg Harbring, CEO of AustroCel Hallein.
The first successful trial delivery of advanced bioethanol marks the start of the long-term cooperation between OMV, the integrated, international oil, gas and petrochemicals company headquartered in Vienna, and AustroCel Hallein GmbH. The Hallein-based bioethanol plant has an annual capacity of up to 35 million liters, making it the world’s largest bioethanol plant based on wood. In the first year AustroCel Hallein will already supply more than 1.5 million liters per month of second-generation bioethanol to OMV. With this, the cooperation partners are contributing to climate protection.
UPM and the US-based pulp and paper producer Domtar Paper Company LLC signed an agreement for UPM to acquire the total annual kraft lignin production of Domtar’s Plymouth Mill in North Carolina, USA as of January 2021. This step enables UPM to expand its role in the growing lignin business and different application segments.
2020 has been a terrible year. And there is certainly no need to say why. The pandemic has clearly shown how urgent it is to solve the climate crisis and move towards a more sustainable economic and social model. Our liberal democracies and our community spirit have also been severely tested.
LanzaTech signed a new multi-year contract with TeselaGen Biotechnology, extending their relationship through 2025. The two companies have been collaborating since 2016 on the informatics behind high-throughput synthetic biology workflows. Over that time, LanzaTech has continued to experience rapid growth, shopping the feasibility to synthesize more than 100 different molecules using its carbon-eating bacteria, and demonstrating the need for a significant scaleup of its R&D operations.
Canadian Enerkem, with a group of strategic partners, that include major investor Shell, along with Suncor and Proman and Hydro-Québec supplying green hydrogen and oxygen, and with the support of the Québec and Canadian governments, will build a biofuel and renewable chemicals plant in Varennes, in the Greater Montréal area.
Varennes Carbon Recycling (VCR) will produce biofuels and renewable chemicals made from non-recyclable residual materials as well as wood waste. The plant will leverage green hydrogen and oxygen produced through electrolysis, transforming Quebec’s excess hydroelectricity capacity into value-added biofuels and renewable chemicals. VCR will be a major creator of quality local direct and indirect jobs during its construction and operation.
“It is in everyone’s interests for life-sustaining chemicals to be manufactured both safely and reliably. We would argue that it is also extremely important that those chemicals be as sustainable as possible, so that future generations will have a habitable plant to use them on.” Jason Camp, CTO at Circa Group, talks to Il Bioeconomista. The Australia-based company is converting waste biomass into advanced biochemical materials.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
