Consumables
Metso and UPM develop biomass based bio-oil production
Monday 08. June 2009 - Metso and UPM have developed a new concept for the production of biomass-based bio-oil to replace fossil fuels in heating and power generation. Test production will begin at Metso's test plant in Tampere, Finland, in June 2009.
Bio-oil can be manufactured by UPM’s renewable energy power plants which are equipped with a suitable boiler and functional raw material management. The raw material of the bio-oil is wood biomass – harvesting residues and sawdust, which is a by-product of the forest industry. Combining bio-oil production to an existing biomass based power plant creates significant cost end efficiency advantages as well as new business.
Metso and UPM have developed the bio-oil production concept in cooperation with the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and with funding of the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes). Combined bio-oil and renewable energy production is a patented technology. It can be seen as continuation of the combined heat and power production concept developed in Finland.
The advantage of the CO2 neutral bio-oil produced from renewable raw material is its remarkable impact to the reduction of greenhouse emissions. Currently several parties around the world are researching possibilities to further process bio-oil into traffic fuel.
“Metso has recently announced already two significant bioenergy projects: the license of biomass drying technology and the acquisition of the LignoBoost technology related to lignin removal. Developing bio-oil technology is an important continuation of these earlier announced bio energy projects. It further strengthens Metsos growth as a supplier of energy and environmental technology solutions, and opens up new business opportunities with regard to bio fuels,” comments Kari Kuukkanen, General Manager, Technology, at Metso´s Power business line. “Bio-oil will be produced with a new method out of solid biomass that is liquefied in a pyrolysis equipment integrated with the fluidized bed boiler of the power plant. In it, the biomass is heated in an oxygen-free atmosphere in a high temperature and vaporized as gases. The cooled gases are condensed into bio-oil.”