Production capacity in Sweden for biofuels for the transportation sector has increased by 20 percent in 2021 to reach approximately 9.2 TWh compared to around 7.6 TWh 2020. Capacity is expected to grow a modest two percent during 2022 before picking up to reach a total production capacity of about 39 TWh in 2026, according to a survey of Nordic biofuel producers conducted by the Swedish trade publication, Tidningen Bioenergi.
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According to Tidningen Bioenergi’s compilation of operational and planned facilities in the Nordic region for the production of biofuels for transportation – road, rail, shipping, and aviation – there are a total of 165 facilities.
Of these, 101 produce biomethane (aka renewable natural gas – RNG) for the transportation sector while 64 plants produce liquid biofuels such as bioethanol, biomethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel (HVO), sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and bio-oils such as rapeseed oil, crude tall oil (CTO), and pyrolysis oil.
Biocrudes for Preem increased
In Sweden, there are about 75 plants that produce biofuels for the transportation sector, of which about 60 produce biomethane and 15 produce liquid biofuels. Production capacity has increased over the past year from approximately 7.6 TWh in 2020 to approximately 9.2 TWh in 2021.
Several new biomethane projects began commercial production as well as new biocrude capacity destined for co-processing at Preem’s oil refineries.
In February 2021, SunPine began production at its second crude tall oil processing line in Piteå, while in December 2021, Pyrocell inaugurated a new plant in Gävle to produce pyrolysis oil from sawdust.
In the meanwhile, Preem has increased its capacity to receive and co-process biocrudes at its oil refineries in Gothenburg and Lysekil. Preem is also the single largest producer with almost 40 percent of the total capacity for biofuel production in Sweden.
In the Nordics, Preem has the largest plans to expand capacity in the region and plans to increase from 3.5 TWh to approximately 22 TWh, corresponding to almost 2.4 million cubic meters of biofuel in 2026. This is approximately half of the fuel volumes Preem currently supplies to the Swedish market.
Strong growth expected 2023-2026
According to the survey, capacity expansion in Sweden is expected to grow a modest two percent during 2022. However, over the following four years, until 2026, capacity is expected to pick up speed with an average annual growth of 44 percent to reach a total capacity of about 39 TWh of biofuels in 2026.
This approximately corresponds to the quantity estimated to be needed to fulfill the reduction obligation in Sweden in 2026 and 56 percent of the total anticipated capacity in the Nordic region by 2026.
In total, Tidningen Bioenergi estimates that biofuels production capacity in the Nordic region will increase from just over 17 TWh per annum from currently operational plants to almost 69 TWh per annum by 2026 if all facilities that are now operational, under construction, and planned are fully realized.
For example, Nordic biomethane majors Gasum and Scandinavian Biogas Fuels International expect to reach 4 TWh per annum capacity by 2025 and 1 TWh capacity by 2020 respectively, although project development has perhaps been slower than originally planned for the latter.
New RNG entrant St1 aims to have 1 TWh by 2030 in addition to increasing renewable fuel production at its Swedish refinery including co-processing biocrudes as well as eying green hydrogen and electro-fuel options in northern Norway.
Finnish compatriot Neste too has plans for its Porvoo and Naantali refineries in Finland even though its facilities in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Singapore drew the longest straws in terms of possible and actual renewable capacity increases.
Like Södra Cell in Sweden, in Finland, Metsä Fibre is mulling methanol extraction at its Äänekoski bioproduct mill while it has already reached a deal with Gasum regarding RNG from the Äänekoski wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
Bio-oil production in Finland has also come underway with Green Fuel Nordic first facility in Lieksa already operational at the end of 2020, while Fintoil’s Hamina crude tall oil (CTO) refinery, said to be the third-largest in the world, is expected to begin operations in mid-2022.
