https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-statkraft-biofuels-wood-idUKKBN19B2C7
[Could there be lessons learned here for Canada with a huge boreal
forest mass, need for paid work for indigenous communities and a
softwood lumber industry being hammered by U.S. protectionist trade
policies? Clearing brush and deadfall from forest floors near
population centres would also reduce the risk and intensity of forest
fires in those areas.]
Tue Jun 20, 2017 | 5:24pm BST
Norway's Statkraft to make biofuel from wood chips and other waste
By Geert De Clercq | ESTORIL, Portugal
Norwegian utility Statkraft has found a way to produce biofuel from wood
chippings and other solid organic waste, which it says replicates in
minutes a process that made crude oil underground over millions of years.
Using high temperatures and pressure, Statkraft's "hydro thermal
liquefaction" process turns wood and organic waste into diesel,
producing what it says is a second-generation biofuel that is carbon
neutral. It emits the same amount of carbon when burned that was
originally absorbed by the organic feedstock.
By using wood and other waste, Statkraft may avoid criticism directed at
other biofuels that rely on vast tracts of farmland. The firm also says
it wants to create a green fuel for aviation and other areas where a
liquid is needed, rather than focus on cars where diesel's emissions are
increasingly scrutinized.
Statkraft and Swedish forestry group Sodra have formed a joint venture
called Silva Green Fuel, which will make an investment decision this
year on a 50 million-70 million euro ($56 million-$78 million) pilot
plant in Tofte, south of Oslo.
Statkraft CEO Christian Rynning-Toennesen said up to 7 percent of the
new fuel, whose energy density is similar to fossil-derived diesel,
could be mixed into diesel fuel and used for any vehicle without
modification. With small adjustments, a diesel engine could run solely
on the fuel, he said.
"This could be revolutionary, it could have the same widespread impact
as wind turbines or solar photovoltaics. Mankind needs liquid fuels,
just not fossil liquid fuels," he told Reuters at the Eurelectric
utilities industry conference.
The biofuels industry has seen a string of failures due to technological
issues, changes to subsidies and problems with obtaining sufficient
feedstock, particularly in the European Union, which puts limits on how
much farmland can be switched from food production to making biofuels,
such as ethanol.
However, Statkraft's procedure would use wood chippings and offcuts that
have no other use, alongside other waste.
"We know the technology works, but there are now also good market
reasons for why this procedure has a chance of success," said Jeremy
Tomkinson, CEO of bioeconomy consultants NNFCC.
Rynning-Toennesen said the new product was not primarily aimed at
passenger cars, as cities worldwide are trying to phase out diesel to
boost air quality and favor electric cars.
Instead, the focus was mainly on planes, shipping and trucking, which
are likely to require high-energy liquid fuels for the foreseeable future.
Statkraft's pilot plant was expected to produce diesel "by the
truckload, not the shipload" for a few years, the CEO said.
A full-scale plant would cost several 100 million euros and was at least
five years away, Rynning-Toennesen said, adding that six large-scale
plants could supply 15 percent of Norway's diesel demand using only
forestry waste products.
"If you add what can be produced from algae or food waste, there is no
limitation on raw materials. We can take any solid organic material,
even plastic," Rynning-Toennesen said.
For now, the firm's calculations show the new fuel is cost-competitive
with regular diesel because of higher taxes on fossil-derived fuels.
"The big question for these kind of investment projects is whether this
tax advantage will last long enough," said Arij van Berkel, a biofuels
specialist at Lux Research.
After converting waste into an energy-rich liquid, the process separates
out the water, then adds hydrogen to produce diesel in a process similar
to oil refining.
"What we are doing is the same as what nature has done over billions of
years," Rynning-Toennesen said.