Why are lignin biofuels needed?

Biofuels

Why are Lignin biofuels needed?

Lignin biofuels are better.

Demand for biofuels is huge, and production of bio-gasoline and bio-diesel from lignin has until now not been possible. Lignin biofuels are renewable and better for the climate.

RenFuel’s world-class innovation transforms lignin and free fatty acids into the lignin bio-oil – LIGNOL®. Refined into bio-gasoline, bio-diesel, sustainable aviation fuel in existing refineries it replaces fossil oil.

Lignol is sustainable, made from renewable untapped forest and agricultural wastes and residuals and can therefore give over 92% in carbon dioxide emission reduction.

Lignin is listed in the EU Renewable Fuels Directive, Annex 9A as a waste based feed stock for advanced biofuels.

Lignol based fuels are fully compatible with fossil or HVO equivalents, they contain as much energy, they can be mixed with them, and used in existing vehicles and infrastructure.

Compared to pure HVO, Lignol fuels also offer a lower price at the pump.

Did you know...

Taking Sweden as an example, the supply of biomass in the Swedish forest industry is on balance and there is now more forest than ever before.

There is now 25% more forest than 25 years ago and the Swedish forest has doubled since the 1920s and has increased from 1.7 to 3.3 billion forest cubic meters and it continues to increase, in balance. Annual growth is 125 million cubic meters, equivalent to 350 Twh and annual forest harvest is 90-95 million cubic meters (200 TWh).

Sweden’s total energy consumption is 385 Twh per year, of which the transport sector accounts for approximately 100 TWh. Today, the share of biofuels is about 20 TWh. By 2030, Sweden will have a vehicle fleet that will be 70% independent of fossil fuels.

All countries in the world with forest and pulp production are able to reduce their use of fossil oils and fuels with RenFuel’s technology.

The pulp mills have so much residual energy in black liquor that it eventually can replace a significant part of our fossil fuels...

Lignin is a residue in pulp production with a high energy value.

Today, the pulp industry burns the lignin to create heat and energy for the pulping process. But there is an excess of it, so significant amounts of lignin are not needed in the process. There has been no alternative market for the lignin – until now.

In Europe alone, it is possible to remove 6 to 8 million tonnes of lignin from the so called black liquor, without causing imbalances in the pulping process in the long term.

With low investments, the forest industry can separate and sell its excess lignin with profitability for the production of lignol for bio-gasoline and bio-diesel. Demand is very high for a long time to come, and lignin and lignol may eventually be sought after commodities for export on the world market.

The challenge right now is to get enough separated lignin to the market.

A Fossil-free vehicle fleet
by 2030 is possible...

Biofuels are the fastest and most realistic way to reach a fossil-free vehicle fleet in 2030. Vehicles powered by electricity, gas, etc., are increasing, but it takes between 17-20 years to replace an entire fleet of vehicles if everyone should be able to afford a change.

The phasing out of liquid fuels by 2030-45 is neither smart nor economically justifiable as it would involve very expensive procurement of new vehicles and infrastructure. And scrapping of investments of about 100 billion in the current well-functioning liquid fuel distribution system is not sane.

Therefore, a large proportion of biofuels together with a balanced growth of electricity and gas operations in the next 20 years is the most realistic solution for reaching the fossil-free targets.

Biofuels of lignol is a drop-in fuel and can compete successfully with fossil diesel and gasoline in a few years, as the production of lignol is based on an efficient large-scale process and utilizes existing distribution networks and fits the current vehicle park.

Existing infrastructure for fuel distribution and sales can be fully utilized. Existing cars and engines can still be used without technical intervention. Consumption and power in the engines are not affected.