Denmark’s Port of Frederikshavn to host biomass refinery for marine fuel

Sep 10, 2013 - Denmark’s Port of Frederikshavn, Canadian firm Steeper Energy and Aalborg University in Denmark have joined hands on the construction of the first biomass refinery for sustainable marine fuel in Denmark.

The biomass facility at the Port of Frederikshavn will make sulphur-free marine fuel that will serve more than 100,000 vessels passing through the port each year, the partners said in a joint statement on Monday.

From January 1, 2015, ship operators in the Sulphur-Oxide Emission Control Areas (SECA) will be obliged to equip their vessels with flue gas cleaning equipment or start using sulphur-free fuel. Port of Frederikshavn CEO Mikkel Seedorf Sorensen said that the port could potentially meet the needs of a marine fuel market of at least 900,000 tonnes a year. Initially, the plant will have a capacity of between 50,000 and 100,000 tonnes per year. Wood from Russia, the Baltic nations, Sweden, Finland and Canada will be provided for its operations.

Aalborg University has already built a research plant and Steeper Energy is working on the installation of a similar pilot facility in Canada’s Alberta province. Thus, “the technical challenges and risk involved in a full scale commercial plant in Frederikshavn are significantly reduced”, Aalborg University professor Lasse Rosendahl noted.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!