SCA testing liquid fuels from black liquor

SCA is investing approximately 50 million SEK (about $8.1 million) in a pilot plant for the production of liquid biofuels and chemicals from black liquor.

The plant will be installed in SCA’s containerboard mill Obbola outside of Umeå in Northern Sweden. The pilot plant will use black liquor, a by-product from the mill’s production of kraft pulp, as raw material for the production of lignin oil and further processing into liquid biofuels and chemicals.

“This is a pilot plant where we will evaluate the potential of the process and research the technology,” says Mikael Källgren, president of SCA Energy. “We do see a large potential in the production of liquid biofuels that may replace petrol or diesel in standard vehicles.”The project has been granted an 11-million SEK subsidy from the Swedish Energy Agency. The pilot plant will be built in 2016 and will be operational in 2017.SCA Energy develops renewable energy from forest resources and produces forest-based biofuel, in addition to managing SCA’s wind-power assets.

In the picture: Mikael Källgren, president of SCA Energy.