Petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and chemicals that are currently produced using oil, may in the future be manufactured from forest and forest industry by-products. Östrand is one potential location for a future biorefinery.
In February 2017, SCA decides to apply for a permit for a biorefinery next to Östrand's pulp mill. A new detailed plan is adopted by the municipal council on November 26, 2018, and on July 8, 2022, the environmental judgment becomes legally binding.
The image is a photomontage of a possible biorefinery at Östrand. Architect GATUN
The reason Östrand has been proposed as a location is, among other reasons, because the expanded Östrand plant enables the use of energy and secondary flows from pulp manufacturing operations, while also using by-products from other manufacturing processes and from forest operations. The systems-based approach and ambition to close the ecocycle make the project unique.
The biofuels that could be produced may replace standard fossil fuel, which will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The production of biofuels could also increase the added value of all forest and benefit the entire region.
There is still no investment decision on whether there will be a biorefinery on Östrand. Development of technologie still remains before they are ready to be built on a commercial industrial scale. In order to be ready for an investment decision, the site has begun to be prepared for industrial land.
Gothenburg BioRefinery
SCA and St1 have previously entered into a partnership with the aim of investing in large-scale production of biofuels at a new facility in connection with St1's existing operations in Gothenburg. Within the framework of that, around SEK 2.5 billion has been invested in a new biorefinery with the capacity to produce 200,000 tons of liquid biofuel.
At the video, Oskar Bengtsson, Director Strategic Projects, St1 and Johan Dahlberg, Project Director SCA, talk about the construction of the jointly owned biorefinery in Gothenburg, which should be ready in autumn 2023.
The Gothenburg biorefinery, which SCA jointly owns with St1, has recently reached a key milestone as the project management team handed over the facility to an operating organisation to begin start-up.
In October 2022, SCA began ground and land construction work just west of Östrand's pulp factory in Timrå. The new area will be approximately 20 hectares, roughly the size of 40 football pitches. The land and land construction work will continue until 2025.
