Rewofuel

Forest residue, the best chance for aviation to become sustainable

To be sustainable, the aviation industry faces a major challenge. If this is to happen, the production of large amounts of aviation biofuel must start to take place. Already today, the market for aviation biofuel could be 150 million metric tons per year. One way to achieve this is through the cooperation project Rewofuel, of which SEKAB is a part.

Within Rewofuel, a new value chain is demonstrated and evaluated where residues from the forest industry can be converted into second-generation aviation biofuel and bio petrol. The long-term goal of this project in which SEKAB is collaborating with eleven companies and universities, is to create a significant number of bio refineries across the EU.

The starting point is that wood contains a large proportion of sugar, which means it is rich in energy. This energy density means that residual products from the forest industry provide a good raw material for the production of bio petrol and avaiation biofuel, two products for which demand will grow significantly as fossil emissions must decrease. Sekab will also demonstrate that the lignin extracted from the softwood raw material through the CelluApp process can be used in the production of asphalt by replacing some of the bitumen, the thick crude oil that today is mixed into asphalt. This reduces the climate footprint of asphalt production.

In our facility in Örnsköldsvik and within the framework of Rewofuel, we extract sugar from the forest industry’s residual products. The sugar is then sent on to Germany where it is used to produce isobutene, which in the next step is converted into aviation biofuel and bio petrol.

It is estimated that the EU forest industry produces 145 megatons of residual products every year. This is enough to supply hundreds of biorefineries with raw materials for, among other things, aviation biofuel, without having to use virgin raw materials.

Rewofuel has a budget of EUR 19.7 million. The contribution from the EU’s research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020, is EUR 13.9 million, of which SEKAB receives just over EUR 4 million, i.e. approx. 30 per cent.

At SEKAB we are proud to be part of Rewofuel. This is a clear sign that Sweden is at the forefront of bioeconomic solutions, not least considering the fact that Peab Asphalt is also participating in this project.

The only way for aviation to become sustainable in the next few decades is for the industry to start refueling with avaiation biofuel. Residual products from the forest industry constitute one of the raw materials that provide the greatest potential for the aviation industry to obtain sufficient quantities of sustainable fuel. That is why we have got involved in Rewofuel.

See the video that Global Bioenergies produced in conjuntion with Rewofuel’s launch in Örnsköldsvik in June earlier this year.