Finnish state-owned gas company Gasum and renewable materials company Stora Enso recently inaugurated the Nymölla biogas plant, built with an investment of SEK 320 million ($38.37 million) in Sweden.

The Nymölla biogas plant produces liquefied biogas (LBG) from industrial process water released by Stora Enso’s Nymölla paper mill.

Johanna Lamminen – CEO of Gasum said: “The driving force behind this pioneering joint venture was the mutual interest in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and creating something valuable out of waste. The result is a plant that can produce 75–80 GWh of liquefied biogas on a yearly basis, enough to supply the annual fuel consumption of up to 200 trucks.

“The demand for cleaner fuels and transport is huge; the construction and opening of the plant will enable biogas to reach the industrial scale required to meet the needs of maritime, heavy transport and other industry actors looking to reduce their carbon footprint.”

In 2018, Gasum and Stora Enso began plans to build a biogas plant near the Nymölla paper mill located in southern Sweden. The new biogas plant will treat the process water generated in the production processes of the paper mill in an anaerobic high-rate reactor to extract the organic matter, which is converted into methane biogas and subsequently liquefied.

The Nymölla biogas plant was built and will be operated by Gasum.

Being a renewable fuel, biogas, when used by the heavy-duty transport segment, offsets carbon dioxide emissions by up to 90%, in comparison to traditional fossil fuels like diesel, said the Finnish gas company.

Kati ter Horst – Executive Vice President of Stora Enso Paper said: “Sustainable operations and resource efficiency are at the core of our business. This project is a good example of how we are able to achieve these goals and help our customers meet their sustainability targets by using our products.

“We are always trying to find the most innovative, sustainable solutions which calls for partnering with like-minded companies such as Gasum. After three years working on this project, we are excited to see the plant officially open at Nymölla, one of our key sites.”

Gasum invested SEK 270 million while Stora Enso invested SEK 50 million in the Nymölla biogas project. Additionally, the project received a grant of SEK 121.5 million from the Swedish Environmental Protection agency, through “Klimatklivet”.

  Gasum, Johanna Lamminen, Kati ter Horst, Nymölla biogas plant, Per Bolund, Stora Enso, Sweden