SCA plans to establish a biorefinery connected to Östrand pulp mill are progressing according to the agenda

Type of post: NEWS.

SCA is the Europe’s largest private forest owner with 2.6 million hectares in northern Sweden. On February 14, the company officially opened the expansion of its Östrand pulp mill. The retrofitting means that the mill more than doubles the annual production of Kraft pulp from 430,000 tons to 900,000 tons (at full capacity in November 2019). Work commenced in 2015 and by the summer of 2018 it was completed. As a result of this expansion, the production of tall oil will also increase by more than 100% and SCA is teaming up with St1 to set-up a plant to transform it into 100,000 tons of advanced renewable fuels.

Blot post: “SCA and St1 join forces to produce renewable fuels from tall-oil”, 26/5/2018.

In addition, SCA is exploring other ways to valorise the wastes and by-products of its retrofitted facility. In this sense, it intends to establish a biorefinery connected to Östrand pulp mill. First milestones have been reached according to plan. Last December, the detailed development plan gained legal force. Now, the environmental permit application has just been submitted to the Land and Environmental Court in Östersund (both a new environmental permit for the biorefinery as well as some amendments to the pulp mill’s environmental permit).

Press release: “Environmental permit application for SCA’s biorefinery submitted”, 11/3/2019.

Figure 1. Montage of a possible design of the biorefinery (extracted from the press release)

The following table summarizes the main data available about the project:

Location	Adjacent to Östrand pulp mill in Timrå (Sweden). Currently, there is not enough lands for the biorefinery (in total, 23 hectares are required). More space is needed and the area must be stabilized. In the environmental permit, SCA applies for a land extension into the water to make room for the facility.
Feedstocks	Line 1: Sawdust, bark and other residual products from forest and mill operations. Line 2: Black liquor from the pulp mill.
Products and production capacity	Total production capacity is estimated at about 300,000 tons of renewable hydrocarbons per year. Biochemicals and biochar will also be produced.
Process	Line 1: Oxygen will be extracted from the raw material resulting in renewable hydrocarbon and water. The hydrocarbons formed can then be further refined into renewable petrol and diesel. Line 2: The lignin in black liquor will be processed into lignin oil that can then be further refined into renewable petrol and diesel.
Climate benefit	It is calculated to be a net greenhouse gas reduction of approximately 1,200,000 tons of CO2-equivalent per year.
Timeline	No decision has been made as to when construction can begin on the facility. It would be established in two stages. Firstly, line 1 would be built and put into operation. Then, line 2 would complete the facility.