Sweden’s Gothenburg Refinery begins SAF, biofuel production
Sweden’s Gothenburg Biorefinery, a collaboration between St1 Nordic Oy and SCA Renewable Energy, began operations on April 10th to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other biofuels.
The biorefinery has an annual design capacity of 200,000 tons of renewable fuel production including SAF, bio-diesel (HVO), bio-naphtha, and bio-LPG using a wide range of feedstocks including used cooking oil, animal fats, and tall oil fatty acids, the latter from SCA’s paper and pulp mills.
“The Gothenburg biorefinery represents our largest single investment in St1’s history, and a significant milestone in our energy transition roadmap. It underscores the scale and breadth of our ambition to drive the energy transition. This marks an important step toward realising our vision of becoming the leading producer and seller of CO2-aware energy,” said Henrikki Talvitie, CEO, St1 Nordic Oy.
The Swedish partners invested nearly SEK4bn ($370m) into the joint venture with equal shareholding. The project was announced in 2021 and was planned to production by second quarter of 2023.
“This is a historic step for SCA’s renewable energy business and the partnership with St1 gives us the opportunity to create additional value and a greater climate benefit from each tree. By refining our tall oil, which is a by-product of the company’s pulp mill, we can become even more resource-efficient and contribute to making society better able to transition the wider transport sector,” added Mikael Källgren, presiden, SCA Renewable Energy.
The refinery was inaugurated by Sweden’s Minister of Energy and Business Ebba Busch.
“Increasing domestic biofuel production is important for Sweden and the EU to achieve our high climate goals, but it is also important to increase our ability to produce our own fuels,” said Busch during the inauguration.
