'BioOil' process nets development grant
17 May 2001
Canadian-based renewable energy specialist DynaMotive is to receive a £1.16million grant from the Department of the Trade and Industry to develop and build a plant to produce 'BioOil' - a fuel derived from plant waste.
The plant, which will be built by DynaMotive Europe and its consortium partners, Border Biofuels and Orenda Aerospace, will produce 12,000 litres of the fuel per day, and will be coupled to an electricity generation plant.
DynaMotive's BioOil process uses a fast pyrolysis technique to convert biomass, such as scrap timber, sawdust and other agricultural wastes, into a clean-burning liquid fuel. The plant, to be built in Scotland, will cost some £4.5million, with each of the three partners contributing equally. Processing 25tonne of woodchips per day, the plant will be the largest commercial production facility of its type in the UK.
'This testing and demonstration of an integrated facility will allow us to refine production techniques, ensuring that BioOil can be developed on this basis,' says Border Biofuels director Adrian Bowles. 'We have long-term plans for the production of BioOil as a real alternative to fossil fuels to provide electricity in the UK.'
