Chemrec’s BioDME plant set for September build
Sweden-headquartered Chemrec’s pulp mill-integrated BioDME (dimethyl ether) biorefinery demonstration plant project will break ground in September in Piteå, Sweden.
Production is expected by mid-2010. The project will demonstrate the production of an advanced diesel fuel, DME, from forest biomass over the black liquor route and will also demonstrate the use of this fuel in heavy vehicles in commercial service.
This demonstration plant is a continuation of demonstration-scale plants designed by Chemrec to yield green fuels and green chemicals.
Around the world DME is becoming widely recognized as a superior ultra-clean biofuel, and its global production capacity based on fossil feedstock is rapidly expanding.
The primary use of DME today is as a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) substitute, yet DME use as an advanced diesel fuel is also being developed. With a high cetane number (the measure of combustion of diesel fuel under compression) and with no particle formation during combustion, DME provides the opportunity to very cost-efficiently meet stringent exhaust emission targets.
Unlike convention DME produced from fossil-based feedstocks, the Chemrec BioDME is produced from residual forestry biomass over the black liquor gasification route.
BioDME offers a very high reduction of fossil carbon dioxide emissions -- around 95% -- compared to conventional diesel fuel, and it can be produced with very high conversion efficiency at relatively moderate capital cost. Several diesel truck and bus manufacturers have operated DME-fueled prototype vehicles, and pre-series production is imminent.
‘The potential of our technology to transform pulp mills into biorefineries is good news for the paper industry, which is struggling today against foreign competitors and the overall reduction in demand for paper products,’ Chemrec CEO Richard LeBlanc says.
‘Biorefinery mills not only will continue to produce pulp but will have a second revenue stream: high value, renewable green fuels and green chemicals for which the demand is steadily growing.’
To facilitate its ability to ramp-up commercial scale black liquor gasification biorefineries at US pulp mills, Chemrec is actively pursuing federal and state grants and loan guarantees.
In June, Chemrec announced that its DP-1 black liquor gasification development plant, also in Piteå, had reached 10,000 accumulated operating hours. This plant is the only gasification plant in the world producing high-quality synthesis gas, from which DME and other biofuels can be produced, based totally on renewable woody biomass feedstock.
Production is expected by mid-2010. The project will demonstrate the production of an advanced diesel fuel, DME, from forest biomass over the black liquor route and will also demonstrate the use of this fuel in heavy vehicles in commercial service.
This demonstration plant is a continuation of demonstration-scale plants designed by Chemrec to yield green fuels and green chemicals.
Around the world DME is becoming widely recognized as a superior ultra-clean biofuel, and its global production capacity based on fossil feedstock is rapidly expanding.
The primary use of DME today is as a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) substitute, yet DME use as an advanced diesel fuel is also being developed. With a high cetane number (the measure of combustion of diesel fuel under compression) and with no particle formation during combustion, DME provides the opportunity to very cost-efficiently meet stringent exhaust emission targets.
Unlike convention DME produced from fossil-based feedstocks, the Chemrec BioDME is produced from residual forestry biomass over the black liquor gasification route.
BioDME offers a very high reduction of fossil carbon dioxide emissions -- around 95% -- compared to conventional diesel fuel, and it can be produced with very high conversion efficiency at relatively moderate capital cost. Several diesel truck and bus manufacturers have operated DME-fueled prototype vehicles, and pre-series production is imminent.
‘The potential of our technology to transform pulp mills into biorefineries is good news for the paper industry, which is struggling today against foreign competitors and the overall reduction in demand for paper products,’ Chemrec CEO Richard LeBlanc says.
‘Biorefinery mills not only will continue to produce pulp but will have a second revenue stream: high value, renewable green fuels and green chemicals for which the demand is steadily growing.’
To facilitate its ability to ramp-up commercial scale black liquor gasification biorefineries at US pulp mills, Chemrec is actively pursuing federal and state grants and loan guarantees.
In June, Chemrec announced that its DP-1 black liquor gasification development plant, also in Piteå, had reached 10,000 accumulated operating hours. This plant is the only gasification plant in the world producing high-quality synthesis gas, from which DME and other biofuels can be produced, based totally on renewable woody biomass feedstock.
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