The European BioDME project is a cooperation between Chemrec, Volvo, Preem, Total, Haldor Topsoe, Delphi and ETC, financed by the project members, the Swedish Energy Agency and the European Seventh Framework Programme. The project was launched in 2008 and is coming to an end in December this year.”The good cooperation between all the project members as well as with Smurfit Kappa, our site host, is an important factor in the success of the project,” says Birgitta Marke, Site Manager at Chemrec's pilot plant in Piteå. ”We have now shown that the technology is reliable and that we can produce BioDME of the highest quality.”Reports from the truck drivers exceed the expectations. The fuel is extremely clean as well as energy efficient.“The combustion is so clean that I can put my hand in the exhaust pipe without getting dirty”, the experienced truck driver Greger Hällgren says.The first BioDME production plant in the world is an impressive sight, a five-story steel structure with more than ten kilometers of piping. Pipes are heated electrically during the winter season when temperatures can reach as far as 30 degrees below zero. On top of the 20 meter high steel structure there is a continuously burning flame. The plant has no walls or roof, for safety reasons. ”Every step in the process is monitored on screens in the control room,” engineer Jonas Jönsson explains. ”The production is very stable and almost never needs to be interrupted due to problems in the process. We are also daily performing routine checks and adjust some of the instruments to optimize the production.”After the BioDME project ground breaking ceremony in September 2009, the building phase and the erection of the modules in June 2010, focus was on getting the plant ready for start-up. Even though this is a test plant there are as many components here as in commercial large scale plants.