InterviewBioMCN to produce bio-methanol at Delfzijl from April 2009

11 December 2008 17:19  [Source: ICIS news]

By Shelley Kerr

LONDON (ICIS news)--BioMCN will start commercial production of bio-methanol at its plant at Delfzijl, the Netherlands, in April 2009 and will focus its marketing activities on fuels applications, chief marketing officer Robert Vriens said on Thursday.

Following mechanical completion in March, the unit will have a capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes/year of bio-methanol and around 250,000 tonnes/year of normal methanol, Vriens explained.

“Depending on the market situation we can switch the plant to 60% and optimise bio-methanol production,” said Vriens.

Such a move would allow the company to reduce its exposure to high natural gas prices at a time of low methanol pricing which has seen several European plants turn down production through 2008.

Vriens went on to explain that work would soon be started on a second glycerine purification unit which would allow the company to run a second bio-methanol unit of similar capacity at the site.

BioMCN’s co-chief marketing officer Eelco Dekker said: “Bio-methanol is chemically identical to regular methanol so it can be used in the same way and for the same applications as methanol made from natural gas.

“Because bio-methanol is made from biomass, it is supplied with a green certificate which guarantees the origin and sustainability information of the renewable resources used.”

For this reason, BioMCN is confident that bio-methanol will provide an alternative option in the fuels consumption arena in light of the European Union’s renewable fuels directive.

“Bio-methanol is an extremely versatile product, which can either be used as a fuel in its own right or as a feedstock for other environmentally friendly fuels,” said Dekker.

The renewable energy directive includes several fuels which can be made from bio-methanol, including fuelblends, Bio-MTBE, Bio-DME, Bio-hydrogen and synthetic biofuels.

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By: Shelley Kerr
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