POLYTECHNIK supplies technology for Europe’s largest industrial torrefaction plant

Finnish company Joensuu Biocoal Oy has announced it will use innovative technology from Austria to produce renewable alternatives to fossil coal, in the form of torrefied biocoal.
Biocoal is the result of sustainably harvested forest residues being heated in a low-oxygen environment, to produce a carbon-rich end product. It has a higher energy density than traditional woody biomass, making it more efficient to transport and easier to apply in existing coal power facilities.
It can be used in a range of applications including power generation, heating and in industrial processes e.g. in metal industry as a carbon neutral alternative.
International technology group ANDRITZ will design, manufacture and supply the reactor based on NextFuel AB technology. POLYTECHNIK will design, manufacture and supply the lean gas burner, as well as the technology for energy treatment and utilisation. This will ensure a cycle-like use of the process energy.
Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2023, and production to begin in late 2024.
The pioneering project demonstrates a potential solution to the industrial push towards carbon neutrality, helping to reduce the environmental impact caused by fossil fuels while providing a renewable energy source.
The new bio-industrial plant will produce up to 60,000 tons of biocoal briquettes per year, which will replace fossil coal in various industrial processes.
The plant can utilise sustainably sourced by-products of local forestry, such as bark and low-grade biomass, which show the enormous potential for CO2 savings of large-scale defossilisation technology.
Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2023, and production to begin in late 2024.
In addition, there are plans to build a cluster around the plant, which includes e.g. Natural Resources Institute Finland, University of Eastern Finland, Karelia University of Applied Sciences and Business Joensuu.
The group's goal is to develop products and refine new uses for torrefied biomass.