BioDME inauguration Sept 9, 2010
On Thursday September 9 the world’s first plant for production of the renewable motor fuel BioDME was inaugurated by Chemrec’s development plant in Piteå. The interest throughout the world is big, and visitors from many countries including Japan and China, attended. “This is a major step forward for the global biofuels market”, said Kyriakos Maniatis of the European Commission.
The syngas generation for the plant is based on Chemrecs black liquor gasification technology. The BioDME synthesis and upgrading technology is provided by Haldor Topsøe A/S. Other important components of the project are the distribution system and the vehicle test fleet. The plant is built and operated by Chemrec.
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“Since the ground-breaking ceremony for the BioDME plant a year ago we have made considerable progress”, said Max Jönsson, Chemrec CEO. “In addition to the building of the BioDME plant and getting the Volvo Truck test fleet into operation also the process towards building an industrial scale plant at the Domsjö specialty cellulose mill in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, has advanced and the main technology providers have been selected”.
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“The significant investment made in this pilot facility will not only demonstrate the production of BioDME but will also provide an opportunity to further develop our already well-proven methanol and DME production processes. This will open even more efficient routes to green fuels and chemicals”, said Jens Perregaard, General Manager, Technology Division at Haldor Topsøe.
“An important milestone was achieved today bringing BioDME closer to commercial deployment not only for the EU but for the global biofuel market”, said Kyriakos Maniatis, Energy Technologies & Research Co-ordination at DG Energy of the European Commission. | |
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The international interest was big with visitors from many countries. To the right in the above picture one can see the new BioDME plant.
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The world’s first BioDME plant was inaugurated to the sound of trumpets, played by students of the Piteå School of Music. |