Vertoro wins grant to build a lignin biorefinery in the Port of Rotterdam
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
Vertoro has announced that its “Goldilocks by sea” proposal won a REACT-EU grant (2 M€) to co-finance all engineering, permitting and ground works activities for a 250 ktons/year biorefinery in the Port of Rotterdam.
LinkedIn post, 24/06/2021.
Related posts:
- “Sainc Energy plans to build an advanced biorefinery in Andalusia”, 13/09/2018.
- “Sekab and Vertoro to build a demo biorefinery to produce a new platform for sustainable fuels, chemicals and materials”, 11/03/2020.
This biorefinery will convert industrial wood residues like sawdust into some 50,000 tons of cellulosic ethanol, alongside roughly 125,000 tons of lignin-based Goldilocks crude oil. The crude has multiple applications including its use as a gasifier- and cracker feedstock as well as a marine fuel. GEM (Goldilocks Enriched Methanol) offers a lower average price per calorie and improves important combustion properties, notably flash point, cetane number, lubricity, and energy density, when compared to neat e- or bio-methanol. Alternatively, when positioned as a feedstock for crackers, GEM offers a more diverse product oil comprising not only olefins, but aromatics as well.
The Port of Rotterdam plant will be constructed in 2 phases. Phase 1, to be commissioned in 2023-2024, will produce 10-20 ktons/year of Goldilocks. Phase 2, to be commissioned in 2025-2026, will see capacity increase to 250 ktons/year (by way of installing additional 10-20 ktons/year modules).