Wärtsilä’s Biofuel Move

Wärtsilä Puregas Solutions, specialists in biogas upgrading technology, has merged with Wärtsilä’s biogas liquefaction team, a unit with capabilities in liquefying upgraded biogas for end-customer use.

The new entity will be called Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions and offer customers a one-stop-shop service for advanced biofuel production, the company said.

Wärtsilä said the market for advanced biofuels is growing in line with efforts regarding the reduction of fossil fuels. The European Union, for example, under its RED 2 directive, has directed that by 2030, member states must require fuel suppliers to supply a minimum of 14% of fuel consumption in road and rail transportation from renewable sources.

Additionally, in both Europe and the U.S., efforts are being made to de-carbonize the natural gas grid and Wärtsilä’s biogas technology supports this trend by removing carbon from the waste cycle, thereby lowering greenhouse gas effects and reducing the level of carbon intensity. Furthermore, fossil driven natural gas grids may see an expansion towards transporting bio-related gases, such as biomethane or even synthetic methane, in the near future, the company said.

“Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions offers products for biogas upgrading to biomethane, and the liquefaction of biomethane into bioLNG. Currently, our market share in this field is almost 60%, and we expect this to continue to grow as we further develop our capabilities,” said Arne Jakobsen, General Manager, Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions.

Wärtsilä has earlier provided the turnkey installation for the world’s largest bioLNG facility located in Skogn, Norway and will, by the end of the year, deliver two more bio-LNG plants to customers in Scandinavia. Interest from both the European and North American markets is high, and Wärtsilä said it anticipates continued strong growth in this sector.

Wärtsilä’s biogas upgrading plants utilize its in-house Puregas CA technology, a process that recovers more than 99.9% of the biomethane present in raw biogas. The process separates the CO2 from the biogas through chemical adsorption. The process is highly tolerant of variations in the raw gas composition resulting from changes in the feedstock, the company said.

Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions supports the company’s vision for a 100 percent renewables future. The energy sector is undergoing a transformation towards the integration of increasing levels of power from renewable sources, and Wärtsilä’s development activities are focused on providing flexible solutions that speed and enable this transformation.