First Commercial Pyrolysis Oil Plant in Finland

© Natural Resources Institute Finland © Natural Resources Institute Finland

Dr. Lauri Sikanen Group Manager, Bioeconomy Business Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

First Commercial Pyrolysis Oil Plant in Finland – Technology, Value Network and Socio-Economic Effects

© Natural Resources Institute Finland

The Big Picture

2 28.10.2016

The plant is located in the city of Joensuu, in North-Karelia, which wants to be free from heating oil in 2020. ”Oil-free North-Karelia Capaign”.

Joensuu City has 200km district heating pipelines under the city and the water in pipes is heated by one big CHP and 9 small heat only plants using heavy heating oil.

© Natural Resources Institute Finland 3 28.10.2016


is our most famous experienced

producer of pulp and paper

machinery

wants to be the most green energy

company in the Major League of

Europe


Long-term R&D co-operation with partners produces results – Pyrolysis as an example

1990’s

First R&D projects

including Finnish

companies

1980’s

First Finnish R&D

laboratory studies on

pyrolysis (VTT)

2007 Technology

development

consortium formed

(Valmet, UPM, VTT)

Tekes support starts

Cold model tests for

oil production start at

Valmet R&D Center in

Tampere

2009

Fortum joins

development

consortium

Bio-oil pilot tests at

Valmet R&D Center

starts

2010

Pyrolysis oil

combustion tests

Start of concept

planning for a

commercial demo

plant

2012

Fortum and Valmet

sign contract on

Joensuu plant

2013 - R&D projects on

pyrolysis oil

upgrading

on-going

Press release

March 11, 2014

Fortum, UPM and

Valmet are jointly

developing

technology to

produce advanced

biomass based fuels

2013 Commissioning and

commercial operation

of Joensuu plant

© Valmet | Jussi Mäntymiemi: 5

June 30, 2015

Joensuu plant

handed over to

Fortum

© Natural Resources Institute Finland 6

Integrated pyrolysis oil production technology Valmet DCS High pressure steam Turbine

Electricity

Non-condensible gas

District heat

Condenser Crusher

Drying

Woody biomass

Fluidized bed boiler Pyrolysis unit Bio-oil


Facts and Figures

7 28.10.2016

• Annual production capacity 50 000 tonnes of oil

• Annual wood use 250 000 solid m3 per year (100 000 dry tonnes)

• Overall energy efficiency of the integrated system: 90%

• Investment cost: 32M€, subsidised 8M€ by state.


50,000 t per annum

10,000 houses could be heated

Up to

90% less greenhouse

emissions

160 tonnes of bio-oil exported

to E.ON’s Karlshamn power

plant in Sweden

320 t less sulphur

emissions




What is pyrolysis oil?

11 28.10.2016

• Extremely complex chemical mix

• Very acidy (pH 2-4) and contains a lot of water (15-30%, but not in the form of real water).

• Can be used as a substitute of heavy heating oil after small adjustments in pipes, containers and feeding.

• More valuable large scale use is coming, but we do not know when .


Bio-oil combustion is scalable to wide size range

• Fortum, Joensuu, Finland – 10 MWth

• Savon Voima, Iisalmi, Finland – 10 MWth

• Fortum, Vermo, Finland – 50 MWth

• E.ON, Karlshamn, Sweden – 174 MWth

12

E.On Karlshamn, photo courtesy of E.On


Supply Chains

13 28.10.2016

• Cut-to-lenght –method, harvester-forwarder-timber truck

• Small size timber from early thinnings (no harvesting residues or hog fuel)

• Comminution just before process to avoid the escape of volatile compounds


Socio-economic effects

14 28.10.2016

• Employs 8 full-time supply chains (harvester-forwarder-truck) to feed the plant.

• Employment effect: 55 direct man-years in supply and 7 at the plant + about 15 indirect jobs.

• Circulates 8.5 M€ annually in local economy instead of paying it out in oil bills.


Why this works in Finland?

15 28.10.2016

• High quality feedstock & existing procurement systems/expertise

• Verified technology and high motivation

• Effective integration => low investment cost

• Possibility to maintain economic sustainability (despite that oil is not too cheap in Finland) and buy time for further development.


Concluding remarks

16 28.10.2016

• Integrated flash pyrolysis is probably the most effective way to liquefy wood to raw material of further refining.

• and know what they are doing and we all hope that academia soon finds methods to increase the value created in the process.

• Success requires careful adaptation into the operational environment.


Thank you

for your attention!

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First Commercial Pyrolysis Oil Plant in Finland