In an effort to provide alternative fossil fuels – Metso, UPM and VTT have created a biomass-based bio-oil production concept. High-quality bio-oil made from sawdust and forest residues has been produced since June this year, by the Metso R&D Center in Tampere, Finland. Fortum is now going to become part of this effort.

This process includes a reactor, linked to a conventional fluidized bed boiler, which first gasifies solid biomass then compresses it into a liquid form. The efficiency of the process has been greatly improved over the past few months of testing. At this point, 20 tons of bio-oil has been produced. Domestic bio-oil can greatly decrease burdens put on the atmosphere and serve as an alternative to heavy and light fuel oils.

The production of bio-oil from renewable resources is at the top of the list for Finnish technology developers and they committed themselves to improving the system. The company hopes to combine bio-oil production and bioenergy-based power plants, giving the new potential to the business while delivering benefits in costs and efficiency.

VTT's earlier R&D patents are the basis for this bio-production process. The control and quality of the bio-oil, will be the primary focus of VTT. In the future, bio-oil refining will also be developed, which will make it possible to feed a conventional oil refinery. Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) and the EU are subsidizing these projects.

[source: Fortum]