Boarding call for ABC 2023
Organized annually by the Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio), the 9th edition of the Advanced Biofuels Conference (ABC 2023) is taking place in Gothenburg on September 20-21, 2023. For those yet undecided – online participation is an option – follows a treatise of what are bound to be topics for discussion.
Organized annually by the Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio), the Advanced Biofuels Conference (ABC) is an ideal networking and knowledge transfer opportunity.
The ABC 2023 event is timely as the European Parliament has just formally adopted the Renewable Energy Directive revision (RED III) and the ReFuelEU Aviation initiative with the Council left to formally approve these.
As demand for advanced biofuels for all modes of transport significantly outpaces production capacity, clarity and certainty on the regulatory framework are needed.
New greenfield plants in various stages of planning and construction will add industrial-scale capacity as they come online. So too will the conversion and retrofitting of existing fossil assets, if investments and recent announcements made by both global oil and gas supermajors as well as national- and independent players is anything to go by.
Retrofitting and co-processing
Preem AB, Sweden’s largest transportation fuel producer, distributor, and retailer (Study Tour option 2 at ABC 2023), is a case in point.
On paper, the rationale for investing in industrial-scale co-processing capability and/or advanced biofuel production capacity at an existing oil refinery would seem self-evident. In reality, there are of course numerous considerations as Johanna Rindebäck, Development Engineer, New Opportunities at Preem will discuss during ABC 2023.
Preem operates two refineries, Preemraff Lysekil, and Preemraff Gothenburg respectively, both of which are undergoing significant retrofits and upgrades to produce advanced biofuels.
These include renewable diesel (aka HVO), renewable gasoline, and possibly sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and renewable marine fuel from various feedstock including co-processed pyrolysis oil from biomass, and end-of-life tyres (ELT).
With a current capacity of 300,000 tonnes and an additional one million tonne expansion planned, Preemraff Gothenburg produces renewable diesel using feedstock such as animal fats, used cooking oil (UCO), and refined crude tall oil (CTO) – the latter is a by-product of the pulp industry.
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