VTT to assess bio- and waste-based oils suitable for power plants and ships
In a three-year business Finland Bioflex Project, VTT and partners are exploring how suitable fuel oils made from biomass and waste plastics are for power plants and ship diesel engines. The aim is to determine the most ecologically and economically sustainable way to replace fossil fuels, the company said in its release.
The increase in wind and solar power requires load-following capacity to flexibly compensate for gaps in electricity production on windless and cloudy days. Power plants that use fuels will continue to be part of energy systems, but there are differences in their flexibility.
Conventional coal- or biomass-fired steam boilers are not capable of load changes that are as fast as those of natural gas-fired gas turbine power plants or the most flexible power plants of them all: internal-combustion engine power plants. Internal-combustion engine power plants use natural gas or heavy fuel oil in diesel engines. In order for large diesel engines to be environmentally sustainable both on land and at sea, it is necessary to find bio- and waste-based alternatives to fossil fuels. These will be identified and evaluated in the BioFlex project coordinated by VTT.
The BioFlex project has a budget of EUR 1.6 million and is co-financed by, along with Business Finland and VTT, the participating companies: fuel oil producers, users and equipment manufacturers. The companies involved include Auramarine, Fortum, Neste, Pohjanmaan Hyötyjätekuljetus, Polartek, St1, Valmet and Wärtsilä. VTT brings to the project its expertise in sustainable development, analytics, diesel engine emission measurement, and thermal conversion methods used in the liquefaction of biomass and waste plastics. These include pyrolysis and HTL, or hydrothermal liquefaction, among others. The aim is also to utilise the expert networks of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
