Nordic biogas project developer Scandinavian Biogas AB has announced that is investing SEK 300 million (≈ EUR 28.57 million) to build one of northern Europe's largest renewable liquefied natural gas (bioLNG) plants in Sweden. Expected to be completed in the latter half of 2023, the plant will have the capacity to produce 220 GWh per annum of bioLNG.
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In 2016, Scandinavian Biogas commissioned its Gladö Kvarn biogas plant in Södertörn, just south of Stockholm. Built in collaboration with the municipal recycling company SRV Återvinning AB, it was the first anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Stockholm County to use food waste as a substrate.
The plant currently processes around 50 000 tonnes of food waste and 15 000 tonnes of industrial organic waste per annum to produce biogas which is upgraded to biomethane (aka renewable natural gas – RNG) and compressed for use as bioCNG in the transportation sector.
In all about 80 GWh bioCNG per annum along with 15 000 tonnes of solid biofertilizer and 10 000 tonnes liquid biofertilizer.
Investment to meet demand
Scandinavian Biogas is investing SEK 300 million (≈ EUR 28.57 million) to expand Gladö Kvarn’s food waste processing capacity and install a liquefaction plant to produce bioLNG.
The liquefaction technology will be supplied by Air Liquide and will be built using proven technology but as a first-of-its-kind in terms of scale.
The advantage of liquefying gas over compressing the gas is a sixfold increase in the amount of gas per volume unit thus distribution logistics become significantly more cost-effective, opening access to markets throughout Europe.
Demand for bioLNG is pointing strongly upwards. BioLNG is increasingly used in heavy transport, but we believe that in the future there will also be a market in shipping and industry, and even in the production of fossil-free steel, biogas is expected to play an important role. In addition, the supply of inputs to produce biogas is increasing. Therefore, together with our partners, we have decided to invest in this expansion, which makes the facility at Gladö Kvarn the largest in northern Europe, said Matti Vikkula, CEO of Scandinavian Biogas.
Largest bioLNG plant in Sweden
Expected to be completed by the end of 2023, the expanded Gladö Kvarn biogas plant will process 110 000 tonnes of food waste and similar waste fractions to produce around 120 GWh of biomethane.
However, the new liquefaction plant will have the capacity to produce a total of 220 GWh of bioLNG per annum. This is the energy equivalent of about 22 million litres of fossil diesel, making it one of the largest bioLNG plants in northern Europe.
The company’s Skogn I bioLNG facility in Norway has an annual production capacity of 125 GWh. It too is being expanded, Skogn II, to 240 GWh bioLNG per annum.
The liquefaction plant will liquefy biomethane from both the expanded Gladö Kvarn biogas plant as well as from the Henriksdal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). At Henriksdal, Scandinavian Biogas produces around 20 million Nm3 biomethane from the raw biogas supplied by Stockholm Vatten och Avfall AB from the WWTP.
Connecting pipeline
In partnership with local gas grid operator Gasnätet Stockholm, RNG from Henriksdal will be piped to the new liquefaction plant at Gladö Kvarn via a new extension of the gas grid.
The investment is SEK 45 million (≈ EUR 4.3 million) and is the largest single investment that Gasnätet Stockholm is making since the vehicle gas network was expanded just over ten years ago.
Our ambition is for the gas network in Stockholm to grow as the city grows. On the one hand, access to food waste increases as Stockholmers become more numerous, and on the other hand, the need for sustainable energy sources becomes increasingly important in line with population growth, said Cecilia Hedqvist, CEO of Gasnätet Stockholm.
Investment grant
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naurvårdsverket) has awarded the entire project a SEK 135 million (≈ EUR 12.9 million) investment grant under the Agency’s “ClimateStep” (Klimatklivet) program.
According to Scandinavian Biogas, the Agency’s decision to support the project is based on the project’s ability to enable a large reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by replacing fossil fuels thus fulfilling the requirement that invested funds must provide the greatest possible emission reduction per invested SEK.
