Arbaflame’s facility in Grasmo, outside of Oslo, Norway (Figure 1), will produce 70,000 tonnes of “bio-coal” pellets per year. These are made of wood biomass and can be used as fuel in place of coal in power plants. The production processes leading to the pellets also generate condensate containing key chemicals, namely methanol and furfural. The methanol will be used to produce energy to power the plant, thereby enabling circularity, while furfural is expected to be used as a building block in a number of downstream manufacturing processes. Sulzer Chemtech provided a separation unit that will help Arbaflame recover these materials, maximizing the self-sufficiency of the plant while supporting the use of renewable resources in the energy and manufacturing sectors.
