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January 24, 2013
Linde and Forest BtL sign licensing agreement for Carbo-V technology
Gerald Ondrey
Linde Engineering Dresden GmbH, a subsidiary of The Linde Group (Munich, Germamy; www.linde.com) has signed an agreement with the Finnish Forest BtL Oy for the licensing of the biomass gasification technology Carbo-V, which will be implemented in a new Biomass–to-Liquid (BtL) plant in Kemi, Northern Finland. The commercial operation for the production of biodiesel and naphtha is expected to start at the end of 2016.
"This first license agreement marks a significant step in the progress of licensing Carbo-V after Linde purchased the technology last year and consolidated it into its portfolio," says Jörg Linsenmaier, managing director of Linde Engineering Dresden. "Forest BtL has selected Carbo-V technology because it is suitable to use commercially available dry chipped wood directly,” says Sven Petersen, vice president Carbon and Energy Solutions of Linde Engineering Dresden. “Compared to other technologies, Carbo-V has a very high-carbon conversion to synthesis gas as well as an outstanding syngas quality,” says Mikko Kara, CEO of Forest BtL Oy.
Apart from the license the contract includes the development of the process design package (PDP) for the gasification. Further services like front end engineering design (FEED) for gasification as well as for shift and gas cleaning are pre-defined.
The BtL plant will have a gasification capacity of 480 MW and an annual output of about 130,000 tons of biodiesel and naphtha, using about 1.5 million tons of wood, a second-generation feedstock not competing with food production.
The project will be funded by the European Union’s NER300 program for innovative, low-carbon technologies. NER300 offers grants to installations of innovative renewable energy projects, grid integration projects and up to 12 CCS projects.
For more process details about Carbo-V, see Chem. Eng., August 2003, p. 16; www.che.com/articles/2003/NewsChem/NewsChem08012003_14.html)
