INDUSTRY NEWS


INDUSTRY NEWS Willow shrubs for SMALLTALK 2 Wood pellet heating plant


biomaterials research According to researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences 34 acres of fast-grow- ing shrub willow from a dem- onstration field in Pennsylvania is a milestone in developing a sustainable biomass supply for renewable energy and bio-based economic development. The shrub willow plantation is part of a broader five-year pro- gram called NEWBio, which is aimed at investigating and pro- moting sustainable production of woody biomass and warm season grasses for energy in the North-East. Planted in 2012 on land formerly owned by the State Correctional Institution at Rockview, the biomass crop will regrow and will be harvested every three years from now on.


Green light for


Indian biorefinery A joint venture project between Chempolis Ltd and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL), which should cost around €110 million, has been approved by NRL’s board. There have already been sev- eral preliminary stages for the project, including signing MoUs with adjacent states for the sus- tainable supply of bamboo. The parties will jointly build a world class biorefinery using Chempolis formicobio technol- ogy in Assam, North-East India, for producing bioethanol with co-production of furfural and acetic acid.


Energy expert


joins Aster Capital The nomination of Hervé Touati as a Venture Advisor has been announced by Aster Capital. Formerly an executive member of the E.ON group in charge of renewable energy and currently Managing Director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an American ‘think-and-do’ tank on energy, Hervé will contribute to Aster Capital’s investment strategy for the United States.


With an office in San Fran- cisco since 2010, Aster Capital has already made a dozen investments in North America, including two start-ups earlier this year.


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wood pellet heating plant valued at over 20 million Euros will be supplied to Helen


Oy’s Salmisaari power station by Valmet. The wood pellet plant will enable Helen to increase the use of biofuels in district heat production in Helsinki. The start- up of the heating plant is expected to take place at the beginning of 2018.


“Utilisation of wood pellets as fuel increases the use of domestic renewable fuels in energy production and creates


jobs in raw material sourcing and transport. The heating plant also supports Helen’s goals of climate- neutral production,” said Heikki Hapuli, Director, Production and Distribution at Helen Oy. The district heating capacity of the plant will be 92 MW. Once in operation, the new plant’s energy output will correspond to the heating needs of 25,000 two- room apartments.


Kai Mäenpää, Vice President, Energy Sales and Services Operations at Valmet, explained: “In designing the Salmisaari


VW promotes biofuel- powered cars


Car giant Volkswagen (VW) has published a new study and called for the promotion of biofuel- powered cars over electric ones to help tackle carbon emissions. The report, entitled ‘Integrated Fuels and Vehicles Roadmap 2030 and Beyond’, was commissioned by car manufacturers and the oil industry. In the report, the companies maintain that additional reduction potential through 2030 could be achieved by an adapted policy approach promoting technologies with lowest greenhouse gas emission abatement costs to society and highest customer acceptance. The EU has been tipping toward plug-in electrified vehicle technologies on new standards


emanating from the Paris climate summit last year, but the coalition that funded the study would like to see biofuels win out.


Roland Berger, a consulting firm based in Munich, Germany, was commissioned by the EU Auto Fuel Coalition, to conduct the study. The coalition is comprised of BMW, Daimler, Honda, NEOT/ St1 (North European Oil Trade), Neste (an oil refining and biofuels company), OMV (an oil and gas company), Shell, Toyota and VW. Ulrich Eichhorn, VW’s new Head of Research and Development, said that plug-in hybrids and more efficient vehicles were ‘building blocks’ for the future, but that ‘higher shares’ for biofuels would


The new heating plant at Salmisaari uses 21 tonnes of wood pellets per hour.


wood pellet plant, we have been able to utilise the experiences gained in earlier, similar projects. The plant fulfils the tightening environmental requirements by utilising a low-NOx burner technique and efficient dust removal. Pellets made of barkless raw material, as well as industrial pellets, which have been produced by also including bark and forest residue, can be utilised as fuel at the plant”.


be needed in the meantime. Thomas Schlick, a partner at Roland Berger, explained: “The EU’s current regulatory framework for road transport decarbonisation needs to be updated for the post- 2020 period in order to create certainty for investment in low- carbon vehicles and fuels”. Speaking about the push for biofuel-powered cars, Schlick added, “These technologies are not yet capitalising on their full GHG emission reduction potential in terms of deployment under the current regulatory framework and can come at a cost of below 100 €/tonne CO2 abated. “The push that these technologies are being given by vehicle manufacturers and fuel producers needs to be complemented by a stronger market pull on the part of customers.”


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