Wärtsilä Forms New Biofuel Arm

Finnish shipping technology group Wartsila has merged its Puregas Solutions and biogas liquefaction teams to form a new Biogas Solutions unit that will offer its customers a ‘one-stop-shop service’ for advanced biofuel production.

Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions, a unit with expert capabilities in liquefying upgraded biogas for end-customer use, offers products for biogas upgrading to biomethane, and the liquefaction of biomethane into bioLNG.

"Currently, our market share in this field is almost 60 percent, and we expect this to continue to grow as we further develop our capabilities,” says Arne Jakobsen, General Manager, Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions.

Wärtsilä has earlier provided the turnkey installation for the world’s largest bioLNG facility located in Skogn, Norway and will, by the end of the year, deliver two more bio-LNG plants to customers in Scandinavia. Interest from both the European and North American markets is high, and Wärtsilä anticipates continued strong growth in this sector.

Wärtsilä’s biogas upgrading plants utilize its in-house Puregas CA technology, a process that recovers more than 99.9 percent of the biomethane present in raw biogas. The process separates the CO2 from the biogas through chemical adsorption. The process is highly tolerant of variations in the raw gas composition resulting from changes in the feedstock.

The benefits of Wärtsilä’s in-house developments and offering are considerable. They include the ability to deliver turnkey solutions, easy integration of all systems, a single point of contact throughout the project lifetime, fast delivery time, and full technical and service support.

Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions supports the company’s vision for a 100 percent renewables future. The energy sector is undergoing a transformation towards the integration of increasing levels of power from renewable sources, and Wärtsilä’s development activities are focused on providing flexible solutions that speed and enable this transformation.

The market for advanced biofuels is growing in line with efforts regarding the reduction of fossil fuels. The European Union, for example, under its RED II directive, has directed that by 2030, member states must require fuel suppliers to supply a minimum of 14 percent of fuel consumption in road and rail transportation from renewable sources.

Additionally, in both Europe and the USA, efforts are being made to de-carbonise the natural gas grid. Wärtsilä’s biogas technology supports this trend by removing carbon from the waste cycle, thereby lowering greenhouse gas effects and reducing the level of carbon intensity.

Furthermore, fossil driven natural gas grids may see an expansion towards transporting bio-related gases, such as biomethane or even synthetic methane, in the near future.