The decarbonized power generated will be supplied through the local power utility AES-Ohio, the University of Dayton, which meets 100 percent of the university’s electricity needs.

This project marks a significant advancement in the University of Dayton’s commitment to sustainable energy, with the potential to reduce its carbon footprint by more than 70 percent.

By capturing wasted heat at Tallgrass’s Rockies Express Pipeline compressor station, Turboden’s solution will contribute to decarbonizing the US oil and gas sector and promote sustainable development.

There’s a growing demand for decarbonized energy, and Tallgrass is committed to identifying existing resources, such as wasted industrial heat, that can produce decarbonized power. We’re confident we’ve identified the right team for this project and look forward to working with Turboden to deliver it for the benefit of our customer, noted Justin Campbell, VP of Power and Transmission at Tallgrass.

A 10 MWe ORC

The facility will feature a 10 MWe ORC system with an air-cooled condenser designed to recover wasted heat from three existing gas turbines.

Known for its high availability and flexibility, Turboden’s solution offers fully automated operations with minimal maintenance costs, while being water-free.

Beyond supporting the University of Dayton’s energy sustainability objectives, the project offers significant benefits for other potential stakeholders.

These benefits include the ability to generate and deliver decarbonized electricity through power purchase agreements (PPAs), enhanced sustainability of operations, and reduced energy consumption.

Additionally, the waste heat to power technology is eligible for various tax credits and incentives under the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The environmental benefits of this project are profound, with an expected generation of up to 85 GWh of emission-free energy and a consequent reduction of over 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

This project exemplifies Turboden’s commitment to advancing sustainable energy innovation toward a cleaner, decarbonized future. The success of this project, along with numerous other projects and opportunities in North America, has led us to consider opening a U.S.-based subsidiary to enhance our operations and presence in the region, said Paolo Bertuzzi, CEO and Managing Director at Turboden.

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The study will determine the optimal size of a recovery system that would be the most energy-efficient combined with the bioproduct mill, as well as the cooling and logistical requirements of the system.

The goal is to use the electricity, heat, and steam generated in the bioproduct mill as efficiently as possible so that no waste heat is generated.

This work follows on from the carbon capture study launched in 2023. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture using an amine solution is an existing proven technology that has been used for decades around the world.

However, combining this technology with a pulp or bioproduct mill is progressive.

After the investigation with ANDRITZ, the project will proceed to the pilot phase in Metsä Group’s mill area in Rauma in 2025.

Wood-based CO₂ to replace fossil raw materials

If carbon capture proves viable, a new high-volume wood-based raw material will emerge for the forest industry.

Our goal at Metsä Group is to process northern wood into increasingly valuable products. If implemented, carbon dioxide capture would open up opportunities for a significant new chemical industry in Finland and boost the Finnish hydrogen economy, said Sari Pajari-Sederholm, EVP Strategy at Metsä Group.

Metsä Group generates about 12 million tonnes of wood-based CO₂ annually, which could be used as a raw material for fossil substitutes as the related technology and markets develop.

For example, renewable hydrogen and wood-based CO₂ could be used to produce synthetic methane and methanol which in turn could be used as raw materials in the chemical industry.

The investigation by ANDRITZ and Metsä Group is pioneering work in carbon dioxide capture and the first step towards the production of renewable fuels from wood-based carbon dioxide. Efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are increasing the demand for renewable fuels, which can be met by the side streams from bioproduct mills, said Klaus Bärnthaler, VP of Sales and Business Development, Carbon Capture at ANDRITZ.

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Following completion, bp will have the capacity to produce around 50,000 barrels a day of ethanol equivalent from sugarcane. The company operates with an integrated business model that covers the entire production chain through to sales of ethanol and sugar.

At closing, which is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of 2024, bp will own 100 percent of the business.

We are pleased with the way the business is operating and the great work the team has done to become a leader in sugar and bioenergy since we created this joint venture with bp. However, this business is not core to Bunge’s long-term strategy and this transaction will allow us to focus and invest in our core businesses while also further strengthening our balance sheet. bp has been a valued partner to Bunge, and we wish them and the team continued success, commented Greg Heckman, CEO at Bunge.

This second and final monetization event of Bunge’s ownership in the business is expected to yield net proceeds close to US$800 million, depending on the timing of closing and customary closing adjustments.

Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals.

J.P. Morgan is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Bunge, and Tauil & Chequer Advogados associated with Mayer Brown, is acting as legal counsel.

Grow bioenergy in Brazil

According to bp, the enterprise value of the stake to be acquired is approximately US$1.4 billion.

The acquisition will result in the consolidation of 100 percent of the venture’s financial results, including net debt of approximately US$0.5 billion and lease obligations of approximately US$0.7 billion.

The acquisition meets bp’s expected returns threshold for bioenergy of more than 15 percent and is fully accommodated within bp’s disciplined financial framework, including CAPEX targets of around US$16 billion in each of 2024 and 2025.

bp says that it believes ownership will also “offer the potential to unlock further growth opportunities in the region and to develop new platforms for bioenergy such as next-generation ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and biogas.”

bp Bunge Bioenergia is widely recognized as a leader in the industry. I am excited by the opportunity for bp to now add further value from our trading and technology capabilities. bp was an early entrant into the bioenergy business in Brazil and we look forward to continuing to grow and develop here, said Emma Delaney, EVP of Customers and Products at bp.

Focusing biofuel development plans

In parallel to this acquisition, bp is scaling back plans for the development of new SAF and renewable diesel projects at its existing sites, pausing planning for two potential projects while continuing to assess three for progression.

This is aligned with bp’s drive to simplify its portfolio, focusing on value and returns.

The bp Bunge Bioenergia acquisition and focus on key biofuel production projects are expected to support the continuing growth of bp’s strategic bioenergy business which includes both biofuels and biogas.

They contribute to bp’s unchanged 2025 targets of delivering around US$2 billion EBITDA from bioenergy and US$3-4 billion across all its transition growth engines.

Focusing our plans to develop new biofuel projects is also driven by value. Taken together, these changes can enable us to deliver the growth and returns we expect from biofuels, but in a simpler, more focused way. This is fully in line with bp’s priorities of driving focus into the business and growing shareholder returns, ended Emma Delaney.

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The company currently has seven technology installations in progress that have the capacity to capture up to 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per year.

There is no business as usual in the push toward net zero—we will accelerate decarbonization today and commercialize innovative technologies for the future. We are proud of the carbon capture plants we are delivering across various industries, with each customer being an important front-runner in its segment. Successful project deliveries are paving the way for other emitters to follow, said Egil Fagerland, newly appointed CEO of the SLB–Aker Carbon Capture joint venture.

The new SLB–Aker Carbon Capture joint venture company will be headquartered in Oslo, Norway. SLB owns 80 percent of the new company while ACC ASA owns the remaining 20 percent stake.

There is no credible pathway toward net zero without deploying carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) at scale. In the next few decades, many industries that are crucial to our modern world must rapidly adopt CCS to decarbonize. Through the joint venture, we are excited to accelerate disruptive carbon capture technologies globally, said Gavin Rennick, president of SLB’s New Energy business.

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That adds up to a job multiplication factor of 12. For comparison’s sake, the job multiplication factor for the sector that includes solar photovoltaics (PV) is 6.50 and the multiplier for the sector that includes wind turbines is 3.73.

Providing new impetus for President Biden’s National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative launched in June 2023, the report illustrated state-by-state gains linked to the transformation of renewable biomass into new products.

And most importantly for policymakers, the report explains why, “A considerable competitive and policy advantage of these industrial bioeconomy jobs is their tie to U.S. soil, both literally and figuratively—these jobs are here and stay in the U.S.”

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The agreement with Frontier and their prominent member companies shows that Stockholm Exergi’s BECCS project is both effective and sustainable. With forerunners like Frontier, we can jump-start the industry for permanent negative emissions and drive ambitions by gathering private and public funding. The climate is the main winner when, in this way, we contribute to getting society on the right track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The agreement with Frontier is an important milestone on the way to our final investment decision, said Anders Egelrud, CEO of Stockholm Exergi.

Advance market commitment

Frontier is an “advance market commitment” (AMC) that aims to accelerate the development of carbon removal technologies by aggregating and guaranteeing future demand for carbon removals.

Frontier’s goal is to build a portfolio of companies working on carbon capture that together can reach a climate-relevant scale in the coming decades. Frontier is a market commitment that effectively pre-guarantees future demand to reduce the risk of entrepreneurs starting carbon capture businesses.

Carbon sequestration is essential to balance the remaining residual emissions when our goal of reducing emissions by at least 90 percent has been achieved. That is the only way we will be able to achieve and maintain net zero emissions. We were the first European company to become members of Frontier and working with Frontier allows us to develop a diversified portfolio of technicians and suppliers. This latest purchase of carbon capture from Stockholm Exergi and other purchases we have made recently can catalyze similar installations at other existing bioenergy plants, creating an opportunity to scale up carbon capture in a responsible way, said David Dahl, Head of Climate and Nature at H&M Group, a Frontier member company.

Stockholm Exergi’s goal is to make a final investment decision (FID for its full-scale bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) plant later in 2024.

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According to the report, the pathway to reach net zero emissions by 2050 requires 17 million tonnes of hydrogen to be consumed in power generation in 2030, reaching 51 million tonnes by 2050.

The report forecasts that the deployment of renewables worldwide is set to double by the end of this decade, creating the right conditions for excess clean electricity to be used for the production of hydrogen-based, carbon-neutral fuels, and enabling 100 percent renewable power systems.

Flexible power generation is needed

Scaling up renewables alone, however, is not enough to reach global net-zero targets. Flexible power generation solutions, like engine power plants, are needed to balance fluctuating renewable energy sources.

Therefore, these solutions must be future-proofed and ready to run on sustainable fuels to fully decarbonize the energy sector.

Wärtsilä is addressing this need through its new hydrogen-ready engine power plant, which can be converted to run on 100 percent hydrogen.

We will not meet global climate goals or fully decarbonize our power systems without flexible, zero-carbon power generation, which can quickly ramp up and down to support intermittent wind and solar. We must be realistic that natural gas will play a part in our power systems for years to come. Our fuel-flexible engines can use natural gas today to provide flexibility and balance, enabling renewable power to thrive. They can then be converted to run-on hydrogen when it becomes readily available: future-proofing the journey to net zero, said Anders Lindberg, President at Wärtsilä Energy.

The new engine power plant is a significant step beyond existing technology, which can run on natural gas and 25 volume percent (vol%) hydrogen blends.

This is a major milestone for us as a company, and the energy transition more generally, as our hydrogen-ready engines will enable the 100 percent renewable power systems of tomorrow, Anders Lindberg said.

Based on the Wärtsilä 31 engine platform

According to the company, the Wärtsilä 31 engine platform, which the hydrogen-ready power plant is based on, is the most efficient in the world.

It synchronizes with the grid within 30 seconds from the start command, ensures energy security through fuel flexibility, and offers unparalleled load-following capabilities and high part load efficiency.

It has completed more than 1 million running hours, with over 1 GW installed capacity globally.

Wärtsilä’s 100 percent hydrogen-ready engine power plant concept based on the Wärtsilä 31 engine platform has been certified by TÜV SÜD, demonstrating a commitment to quality and safety.

TÜV SÜD’s H2-Readiness certification consists of three stages with three corresponding certificates. Wärtsilä has now achieved the first stage with a Concept Certificate for the conceptual design of its engine power plant.

The 100 percent hydrogen-ready engine is expected to be available for orders in 2025, and available for delivery from 2026.

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The large-scale project hit a milestone on June 10, 2024, when after 38 years, the last piece of coal was burned at the Oberkirch CHP plant.

The power plant is now stopped, and extensive overhauling and conversion work for switching over to biomass fuel has been going full speed ahead.

Biomass receiving completed

The Biomass Receiving Area 1 and four new silos have been completed, the material handling equipment and the conveying path from the silos to the power plant are being worked on.

In addition, building services are being installed at Biomass Receiving Area 2. This new material handling equipment will be used to transfer biomass to the boiler inside the power plant in the future.

The gas supply system has been completed and the cold reserve has been successfully switched over to dual-fuel burning, the new emergency generator has been put into operation as well.

This ensures that the Koehler Group CHP plant in Oberkirch will continue to be powered until the conversion work at the CHP plant is completed.

The commissioning and testing phase will start in mid-August, and the energy plant should begin to run on biomass starting in October 2024.

Now that the last piece of coal has burned at the plant, over 150,000 tonnes of direct fossil carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions will be cut per year at the Oberkirch site by the switch to biomass.

For us, decarbonization of our coal-fired power plant in Oberkirch is another crucial step in our efforts to achieve our climate goals and produce more renewable energy than we need for our paper production operations starting in 2030, said Kai Furler, CEO of Koehler Group.

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Drax Group, the world’s second-largest wood pellet producer, has pellet production in both the US South and Canada.

The company has a longstanding relationship with NBP which transports its pellets to Japan.

These pellets are currently shipped through smaller handysize bulkers, which, due to the limited size of their fuel tanks, have proved challenging to switch to lower emission fuels, such as ammonia.

Through the MoU, signed mid-May at the British Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, the companies will initially start research to develop the new shipping technology, an on-board biomass energy plant required to power a bioship.

Drax aims to be carbon-negative by 2030 and decarbonising our supply chain is critical to reaching this goal. This MoU is an important step in the development of the technology required to power and launch the world’s first bioship, which will support Drax’s decarbonization goals but could also drive the innovation needed to transform shipping and cut carbon emissions and fuel costs in global supply chains. I’m looking forward to working with our partners NYK, NBP, and TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING, to explore the potential this technology has to support global efforts to address the climate crisis. We are also exploring the role of other renewable technologies in delivering greener shipping, said Paul Sheffield, Chief Commercial Officer at Drax Group.

The four companies are exploring how other renewable technologies could be used to reduce emissions and fuel costs of shipping biomass.

This initiative is part of NYK’s long-term target of net-zero emission of greenhouse gas by 2050 for the NYK Group’s oceangoing businesses. The NYK Group is committed to providing its expertise in low-carbon and decarbonized maritime transportation as per this MoU and will utilize the knowledge gained in this research and development to promote initiatives related to various energy-saving technologies. Through our strength in high-quality transportation services, we will continue to co-create value for society with our partners Drax and TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING, said Shinichi Yanagisawa, Executive Officer of NYK Line.

Explore onboard biomass gasification

The onboard energy plant would use a gasifier to gasify pellets at high temperatures and create and contain gases including carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane (synthesis gas – syngas).

The syngas would then be used to power a generator which could propel the bioship and provide a proportion of its internal power.

The installation of a biomass energy plant could see up to a 22 percent reduction in well-to-wake carbon emissions in bioships when compared to using fossil fuels.

TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING focuses on reducing the global environmental impact in the design and construction of our vessels and has declared to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To realize this aim and recognize ourselves as a frontrunner of an environmentally friendly yard, we are driving to develop and construct new fueled vessels that combine environmental impact reduction and economic efficiency. We are very proud to be involved in this project, which aims to achieve the world’s first maritime transport using wood biomass energy, in collaboration with NYK Line, NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers, and Drax Group. This project is an attempt to implement ‘Creating the future, today’ as the TSUNEISHI Group slogan, and TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING will contribute by demonstrating our function as a shipbuilder for the project members, said Kenichi Shibata, Managing Executive Officer of TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING.

If this development is successful, the companies will jointly study the possibility of building a bioship by the end of 2029.

Drax is a leading renewable energy company, and we are honored to be a part of this symbolic project to use its main products as environmentally friendly fuel in the transportation of the products themselves. After a study of the biomass fuel plant and gasifier system, Drax, TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING, NYK, and NBP have concluded an MoU for the feasibility study on the development of the world’s first wood pellets-powered Super Low-Emission Vessel. This is an important step towards a decarbonized society for all concerned parties. NBP will continue to contribute to global decarbonization together with its customers and partners, ended Masashi Suda, President of NBP.

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The new plant will meet the need for more renewable district heating in the southern part of Göteborg Energi’s district heating network and optimize district heat production in the Mölndal–Gothenburg region.

Through this investment, we will be more resource-efficient and increase the amount of renewable district heating in the region. As a whole, the district heating customers in Mölndal and Gothenburg will get more cost-effective and reliable district heating, said Per-Anders Gustafsson, CEO of Göteborg Energi.

Valmet’s turnkey delivery, the value of which has not been disclosed, to the Riskulla plant will include a boiler with a fuel receiving pocket, pellet storage as well as milling and wood dust dosing to the boiler.

Valmet will also supply a flue gas cleaning system consisting of a Valmet Bag House Filter and a Valmet Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system. Spare parts are included in the delivery the value of which has not been disclosed.

We are very pleased to continue our good cooperation with Göteborg Energi in replacing fossil fuels with renewable wood pellets in district heat production. This is the second order that they have placed on Valmet within a short period of time and an addition to our long track record of projects together, said Aleksi Salmirinne, VP Energy business unit, Pulp and Energy business line, Valmet.

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