TechnipFMC and BTG-BTL to build bio-oil production in Sweden
Enschede, 16 September 2019 – Thanks to a Dutch invention, cars in Sweden will soon be powered by a fuel made from wood residues such as sawdust. TechnipFMC and the Dutch company BTG-BTL based in Twente will design and build a production facility in Sweden where wood residues will be converted into bio-oil. It will be the first plant in the world where ‘green fuel’ will be produced and further processed in a refinery for motor vehicles.
The plant will convert roughly 35,000 – 40,000 tons of dry wood residues into oil each year using a special technology called pyrolysis. This oil is then processed in a refinery to produce advanced biofuels. With this produced pyrolysis petrol an equivalent of 15,000 family cars can be powered per year.
The biofuel is mixed with other types of fuel – biofuels as well as fossil fuels – resulting in a petrol and diesel that is partly composed of sustainable oil. This ensures that it will comply with the European RED II directive under which, starting in 2020, petrol must contain a certain fraction of renewable energy from sustainable sources such as wind, sun, and biomass.
‘Non-fossil, non-food’
The process used to convert the residual waste materials into oil is called fast pyrolysis, and it produces a ‘green’ sustainable product that can be used to replace fossil oil. It is a ‘non-fossil, non-food’ oil. As the oil is made from residuals, no trees need to be cut down and no agricultural land needs to be converted from producing food to producing raw materials for fuel.
BTG-BTL and TechnipFMC have previously been awarded an order for building one production facility in Finland, with the possibility of extending to four. Here sawdust is converted into pyrolysis oil, which is then used to provide energy for various factories in Finland and the Netherlands.
