A demonstration biomass to liquids plant was launched today (11th June) in Varkaus, Finland. The plant is owned by NSE Biofuels Oy, a joint venture between Neste Oil and Stora Enso. The facility, based at the Stora Enso Varkaus Mill includes a 12 MW gasifier, and will be used to develop technologies and engineering solutions for a commercial-scale plant. The demonstration process units will cover all stages, including drying of biomass, gasification, gas cleaning and testing of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts.

"The inauguration of the facility in Varkaus is an important development step for us in our efforts to discover new renewable raw materials for traffic fuels, and forms an integral part of our contribution to helping society reach the climate-related goals set for traffic by the EU," says Matti Lievonen, President and CEO of Neste Oil.

"Biomass-based renewable fuels represent a significant future business opportunity. This will require further development work and competitive forest industry mills to host the future commercial units. This continuously operated demonstration facility takes us a step closer to this goal," states Jouko Karvinen, CEO of Stora Enso.

The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes) provided funding for NSE Biofuels Oy's R&D through its programme BioRefine – New Biomass Products, and the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy provided finance for the demonstration facility investment. This support enabled the project to be increased in scope and developed more rapidly.