Forest BtL Oy awarded a EUR 5M contract to Technip for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of a new second-generation biomass-to-liquid (BTL) plant to be built on Ajos island, Finland. This plant will produce approximately 140,000tns of biodiesel and naphtha from wood and by-products from the wood-processing industry.
BTL is a new-generation biofuel, consisting of a multi-step process to produce liquid biofuels from biomass. Main technological steps are gasification, syngas cleaning and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. As a part of the contract, Technip will develop the process design package of the hydrogen production unit of the plant, based on its steam reformer proprietary technology. It will prepare the FEED for the hydrogen production, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and refining units.
Technip’s operating centre in Lyon, France, together with the group’s hydrogen technology centre in Zoetermeer, The Netherlands will execute the contract, which is scheduled to be completed in the first semester of 2014.
The Ajos BtL project is supported by the European Union NER300 funding program for innovative renewable energy technologies. This project will be an industrial first and will reinforce Technip’s leading position on new generation biofuels projects.