Metsä Fibre and energy firms move forward with biogas project

The firms launched a feasibility study last year and the research thus far shows that the project is technically feasible and that the biogas production process can be integrated with the Joutseno pulp mill, RISI reports.The plan is to use biomass, for example wood chips, and turn this into synthetic biogas, also known as bio-SNG. The composition of this gas corresponds to that of natural gas, and it could be used in all the same applications and be distributed through the existing gas network, the firms said.The plant under consideration would have a capacity of 200 MW and would require some 1.3 million cubic meters per year of wood raw material, which would be dried, gasified and refined to at least 95 percent methane. The plant would mainly use by-products from the wood used in the pulp mill, such as wood chips and bark.The companies plan to gather the information needed for a potential investment decision by 2014. Once a decision is made, constructing the facility would take around three years.