Agrowing interest in fuels produced from renewable raw materials by gasification has been one of the mega trends since the beginning of this millennium. It is reality to convert coal to liquid, but the true challenge is biomass – available in different state and qualities: forests (wood, top refuse, twigs, stubs, rootstocks), on fields (cereal crops, straw, other plants like reed canary grass), swamps (peat) and organic waste from food industries, recycled paper, agriculture residues and municipal waste.

Although there are alternative technologies available for each of the unit processes, no full-scale integrated BTL-plants apparently is yet in operation. The biggest challenges, along with the process technology are availability and logistics of feed stock, end products and energy integration.

Rintekno Oy is based in Espoo, Finland. www.rintekno.com