From wood to wheels
Construction started on the first plant in the world for the production of a renewable automotive fuel called BioDME.
One of Volvo's trucks fueled by BioDME. A promising clean-burning hydrocarbon fuel (Photo: Volvo).
The plant at the Smurfit Kappa paper Mill in Piteå is being built by Sweden-based companies Chemrec and Danish Haldor Topsøe, and will by 2010 produce 4 tons of so called BioDME per day. BioDME is made from black liquor, a by-product of the pulp and paper industry. The result is a fuel that is energy efficient, non-toxic, renewable and with low exhaust- and greenhouse gas emissions.
The BioDME-project
Too good to be true? Well, that is what the members of the BioDME-project plan to find out. The project is coordinated by Volvo, who will put fourteen DME trucks into operation to carefully study whether BioDME is a viable fuel for the heavy duty truck transport for the future. Another member of the project, the Swedish oil company Preem, will provide four filling stations for BioDME to support the trucks.
Other members of the project include Delphi, Total and the Energy Technology Centre in Piteå. The combined skills and know-how from many different sectors is absolutely necessary to succed, according to Patrik Klintbom, Coordinator, Alternative Fuels and Urea, at Volvo Technology Corporation:
– Development of sustainable biofuels calls for cooperation between players in many different areas. This project will demonstrate that this urgently needed change is possible, he says to Volvo.com.
The estimated price for the plant is €14 million, and is supported by the Swedish Energy Agency and the EU’s Seventh Framework.
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