UPM nears completion of wood-based biorefinery

Finland-based UPM is building a biorefinery in Lappeenranta, Finland that will produce renewable diesel, known as BioVerno.

 The facility will be the world’s first commercial scale wood-based biorefinery when operations begin this summer. It will produce approximately 100,000 tonnes of renewable UPM BioVerno diesel each year, covering a quarter of Finland’s 2020 renewable energy target in transportation. The renewable fuel can be used in any diesel engine – car, bus or truck – without modification.

‘During the last few years we have made progress with R&D work and important investments for developing sustainable wood-based biofuels. We are commissioning the Lappeenranta biorefinery this summer,’ says Sari Mannonen, sales and marketing director of the UPM biofuels business.

On 25 June UPM announced that it received the EU’s Sustainable Energy Europe Award 2014 in the ‘Travelling’ category for its renewable crude tall oil based UPM BioVerno diesel in Brussels, Belgium. The Sustainable Energy Europe Awards reward and promote Europe’s best sustainable energy projects in the fields of energy efficiency, renewables and clean transport.

‘This recognition confirms that we have managed to make significant progress in sustainable advanced biofuels,’ Mannonen adds.