Project description

In April 2024, a biorefinery jointly owned by SCA and St1 was inaugurated in Gothenburg. The refinery produces large volumes of renewable fuel for vehicles and aviation. One important raw material is tall oil, supplied by several of SCA’s kraftliner and pulp mills. This is one of many examples of how SCA processes their by-products, strives towards a fossil-free world, and maximises the value of every part of a tree.

When fully operational, the refinery will produce around 200,000 tonnes of renewable fuel annually. This is estimated to create an annual climate benefit of approximately 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. SCA’s share in the facility is 25%.

Biofuels made from sustainable raw materials play a key role in the climate transition, and the biorefinery will produce both sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and biodiesel (HVO).

The implemented solution

A biorefinery operates in essentially the same way as a refinery based on fossil crude oil. Raw materials for a biorefinery can be a wide range of different plant and animal fats and fatty acids. An important and suitable raw material is tall oil, a by-product from kraft pulp production. SCA’s mills produce roughly 40–60 kilotonnes of tall oil per year, and this amount will be used entirely for biofuel production.

When tall oil is further refined into liquid biofuel, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by more than 90% compared with fossil fuels.

The key hurdles solved

The inauguration of the biorefinery in Gothenburg marked the culmination of a long process where an idea and a vision were transformed into a state-of-the-art facility. The plant, built next to an operational refinery and during a pandemic, required 3,6 million working hours to complete.