VTT participates in biofuel production technology project

The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is participating in the EU-funded project COMSYN, which aims to develop a production concept for competitive bio-based fuels by means of a compact gasification and synthesis process. The target reduction of the biofuel production cost is up to 35 per cent compared to alternative routes, which translates to less than 0.80 €/l production cost for diesel.
September 15, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is participating in the EU-funded project COMSYN, which aims to develop a production concept for competitive bio-based fuels by means of a compact gasification and synthesis process. The target reduction of the biofuel production cost is up to 35 per cent compared to alternative routes, which translates to less than 0.80 €/l production cost for diesel.

The production concept is based on the distributed primary conversion of various kind of biomass residues to intermediate liquid products at small-to-medium scale (10-50 kt/a Fischer-Tropsch products, 30–150 MW biomass) units located close to biomass resources. The Fischer-Tropsch products will be upgraded to fuels in existing central oil refineries, also bringing the benefits of economy of scale for the overall process.

The smaller scale of primary conversion lowers the risks of the investment, which has been the main bottleneck for large-scale biofuel plants. Integration of the primary conversion to local heat and power production is estimated to result in 80 per cent energy efficiency in biomass utilisation.

The COMSYN project validates the process concept from biomass gasification to final biofuel product. The gasification of biomass and the gas cleaning process are developed and piloted by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd together with GKN Sinter Metals Filters.

The synthesis process utilises a modern intensified Fischer-Tropsch reactor by INERATEC GmbH and one of the key targets of the project is to further develop the technology for even higher syngas conversion. Refining of Fischer-Tropsch products to high quality drop-in liquid transport fuels is done at UniCRE, the Unipetrol Centre for Research and Education.

The process design, techno-economic and environmental assessments as well as market and business case studies are carried out by Amec Foster Wheeler Italiana, DLR German Aerospace Center and ÅF-Consult.

Related Content

  • June 29, 2017
    Favourable government initiatives and new business models boost Poland’s EV market
    Poland’s electro-mobility market is ripe for growth, according to research organisation Frost & Sullivan. Favourable government initiatives such as the Electro-mobility Plan and Electro-mobility and Alternative Fuels Act are reshaping local mobility and igniting innovative clean technologies to achieve higher competitiveness and energy optimisation.
    Read More
  • July 29, 2016
    New clean diesel technology improving air quality and fuel efficiency, research finds
    The introduction of more advanced diesel truck engines, innovative emissions control systems, and cleaner diesel fuel over the past decade have successfully resulted in major improvements in air quality and fuel efficiency, according to new research compiled by The Martec Group, a global technical marketing research firm, for the Diesel Technology Forum. The four million cleaner heavy-duty diesels introduced from 2007 through 2015 have saved US consumers: 29 million tonnes of C02; 7.5 million tonnes o
    Read More
  • November 15, 2016
    Rolls-Royce and VTT partner to develop smart ships
    Rolls-Royce and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have announced a strategic partnership to design, test and validate the first generation of remote and autonomous ships. The new partnership will combine and integrate the two company’s unique expertise to make such vessels a commercial reality. Rolls-Royce is pioneering the development of remote controlled and autonomous ships and believes a remote controlled ship will be in commercial use by the end of the decade. The company is applying technol
    Read More
  • November 5, 2013
    Automated driving navigation system wins Copernicus Masters 2013
    With an innovative approach designed to meet the need for redundant positioning and navigation systems, Hartmut Runge from the Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has just been named the overall winner of this year's Copernicus Masters, and the competition's BMW ConnectedDrive Challenge. The competition was previously called the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme (GMES).
    Read More

Highlighted Content