NordFuel Oy is planning to build a biorefinery that would produce fuel ethanol from wood. NordFuel will also replace the Kanteleen Voima’s existing thermal power plant in Haapavesi with a new wood fuel fired industrial boiler.

The engineering of the bioethanol plant will continue based on a new wood-fired boiler

Kanteleen Voima’s board made a decision 26th of March 2021 to produce process steam used by the NordFuel biorefinery with a new steam boiler. The main fuel for the boiler will be biorefinery’s by-product lignin. In addition, the boiler uses bark, raw turpentine and sludges as fuel.

The decision to replace the old peat-fired boiler with a smaller steam boiler became topical when the 24.5 M€ subsidy granted by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in June 2020 precondition is the use of 100 % renewable fuels. All fossil fuels, including peat, are excluded.

”The decision on the choice of energy production method is a significant step for our biorefinery project. Fuel to be used is important starting point in designing the biorefinery, because we aim to utilize all raw material as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, the targets set for reducing peat use as well as foreseen political and economical instruments mean that we cannot utilize peat in our process. In short, in the future we cannot use peat anymore, and the fuel for the biorefinery will be different wood fractions and by-products of the biorefinery. Despite this NordFuel project is progressing as planned and next we can make a decision of the bioethanol technology provider”, says the CEO Matti Asikainen.

Additional information:

• Petri Vesanto, Project Director, +358 50 517 62 68
• Matti Asikainen, CEO as of April 1st, +358 40 553 49 26

NordFuel Oy’s biorefinery will produce 65,000 tons of 2G bioethanol annually. In addition, biorefinery will produce lignin pellet and biogas. NordFuel Oy will be locally a significant employer.