The idea is to develop catalytic pyrolysis technology for upgrading bio-oil and commercialise the solution.
The five-year project is called LignoCat (lignocellulosic fuels by catalytic pyrolysis). In this project, the consortium aims higher and the target is to develop novel integrated technology to produce high value biofuels to replace fossil transportation fuels, and thereby create new business for the consortium companies.

“We will develop pyrolysis technology enabling improvement of bio-oil quality compatible for further refining to transportation fuels or intermediate products. This is a business opportunity for us, which will lead to new sustainable processes and products. We see a great potential in this project and look forward to continued cooperation,” says Jussi Mäntyniemi, Director, Technology and R&D, Valmet.
Successful project execution will help utilities and the forest industry sector in making investment decisions for entering advanced biofuel production.

UPM’s knowledge of biofuels plays a key role in the project. “Our aim is to become a significant advanced biofuel producer. In accordance with our strategy, we will start production in Lappeenranta with crude tall oil residue as a raw material, and simultaneously we are looking for ways of producing biofuels out of solid wood biomass. Catalytic pyrolysis is one of the promising options we are looking into,” says Petri Kukkonen, Vice President, UPM Biofuels.

In addition to employment opportunities, final products will have a positive impact on the Finnish and European trade balance as the target market for second generation transportation fuels by 2020 is 10 million t/y.