UPM Biofuels was awarded the Commercial Scale Plant of the year in the WBM Bio Business 2015 competition on 2 March in Amsterdam. The award was received thanks to UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery in Finland, which started commercial production in January. The winners were announced on a gala organised in the connection of the World Bio Markets event.
The award honours the industry pacesetters for their consistent commitment to innovation and promotion of bio-economy. The competition gives credit to the bio-pioneers who have proven commercial scale production of a biofuel or bio-based chemical product. The winners were chosen by an independent panel of judges, including CEOs and professionals from the leading global bio-based companies. The nominees' projects were assessed based on their innovativeness and ambition as well as on their relevance with regard to other industries.
"We congratulate UPM Biofuels for their contribution to world's energy future by bringing new renewable fuel technology to the market," the jury stated.
"We are proud to receive this esteemed, international award for our newly commissioned commercial scale biorefinery," says Sari Mannonen, Sales & Marketing Director of the UPM Biofuels Business. "Since 2008, we have taken great steps from developing the innovative process, building the biorefinery and finally, becoming the world's first producer of renewable wood-based diesel. This recognition is very highly valued, and the whole UPM Biofuels team is very excited about making this happen," Mannonen continues.
Innovative advanced biofuel
UPM Biorefinery in Lappeenranta, Finland is the first commercial scale biorefinery in the world producing wood-based, renewable diesel. The facility, worth 175 million EUR, with an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes of UPM BioVerno diesel has been built without any public investment grants. The construction of the biorefinery started in summer 2012 and the commercial production in January 2015.
UPM BioVerno is produced out of crude tall oil, a wood-based residue of pulp production. A big portion of the raw material comes from UPM's own pulp mills in Finland.
UPM BioVerno reduces greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80 per cent compared to traditional diesel. Based on research, high quality UPM BioVerno works with all diesel engines just as well as any regular diesel. UPM has a sales agreement with NEOT (North European Oil Trade), a wholesale organisation of oil and biofuel products.
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