UPM starts the environmental impact assessment for a new biorefinery in Finland
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
UPM continue to take steps to expand its
businesses. Last October, the company announced that it was evaluating the
potential of building a wood-based biorefinery to produce green chemicals in
Germany (see post,
25/10/2017). Now, it is studying new biofuels development opportunities by starting the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for another biorefinery in Finland (see
press
release, 5/2/2018).
This is a summary of the data provided by the
press release:
Location
|
Mussalo (Kotka,
in south-eastern Finland).
The
proposed site is in the area of a dismantled power plant formerly run by the
Pohjolan Voima energy company.
|
Feedstocks
|
UPM is
looking into the use of several new feedstocks, among them, wood residues and
oil from turnip rape-related carinata.
|
Products
and production capacity
|
500 ktons
of advanced biofuels for transportation.
|
Technology
|
Different
technology than in its current Lappeenranta
Biorefinery.
|
Timeline
and investment decision
|
The project is in the very early stages and
the EIA process normally takes approximately one year.
EU and national policies on biofuels will play
an important role in the final assessment of the possible investment.
|
Figure 1. Proposed site for the new biorefinery
in the area of a dismantled power plant (extracted from the press release)
Regarding to the use of carinata as biofuel
feedstock, UPM has received the RSB (The Roundtable on Sustainable
Biomaterials) certification for its cultivation in Uruguay (see press
release, 15/1/2018). Brassica carinata is an oilseed crop specially
designed for sustainable production of biofuels. The crop works well in the
climatic and agricultural conditions of Uruguay and has been tested by local
farmers.