Weyland’s
process is based on concentrated acid hydrolysis. The uniqueness of the process
is that 98.5% of the acid can be recovered and recycled, thus making the
process economically and environmentally viable. Weyland claim that their
process gives a greenhouse gas saving of 90 percent compared to fossil fuel.
The
concentrated acid process enables the use of a wide variety of biomass,
including timber, harvest residues, corn stover, sawdust, waste paper,
switchgrass, etc.
The
technology has been developed through several years of research and testing at
the laboratories of Bergen University College at the west
coast of Norway. The process is thoroughly tested in bench scale, and has
proved to be very robust and able to handle a wide variety of feedstock.
“Weyland represents an interesting and robust next generation biofuel
technology that can use several types of feedstock. Together we are
passing a historic milestone towards industrialisation of this low
carbon renewable fuel production. Today we are very excited with the
progress and are looking forward to see the next achievements”, said
Guntis Aboltins-Abolins, Head of the Future Fuel unit at Statoil.
Statoil has contributed substantially to the funding of the pilot plant. The Norwegian government have also contributed financially trough the public investment fund, Innovation Norway.
Weyland’s pilot plant has an annual production capacity of 200,000
litres bioethanol. The company’s ambition is that the pilot plant will
pave the way for a larger production plant in Norway, with an annual
production capacity in the order of 25-30 million litres. Weyland is
currently evaluating such a project in cooperation with the industrial
company Elkem - this project has the potential to position Norway as a
serious contender within biofuels production. ”Our dream scenario is to
achieve this in Norway, enabling Norway to contribute to production of
renewable energy and the creation of ”green” jobs. However, this
requires both political determination and drive”, says
Bartz-Johannessen. He emphasises that other plant locations outside
Norway are still under evaluation: ”We need to be where the terms are
favourable and the market is attractive”.
"We have had
large scale production of bioethanol from wood in Norway for years, but this
technology is the first to enable us to utilize a larger part of the wood based
biomass for biofuels. I also give us a much bigger variety of feedstock to
choose between. This is truly a historic day for second generation biofuels",
says Johannes Fjell Hojem, biofuels
advisor in ZERO.
