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PUTTING WASTE TO WORK ON THE ROAD BY PETER HERRING PHOTOGRAPH BY JUHA SALMINEN St1 is spearheading the production of ethanol from waste, using groundbreaking technologies. utumn 2008 saw the world caught off-guard and badly shaken by unprecedented economic turbulence. Potentially much bigger crunches are on the way. The most obvious is global warming, the second is oil and when it is going to run out. One of those who has long ago realised that we need to get serious about alternatives is Mika Anttonen, Chairman of the Board of Finland's St1, an oil company with around 1 billion in annual net sales, and the one that is making headlines with its waste-to-ethanol initiative. A "When we saw the small-scale wasteto-ethanol technology that VTT Technology Centre of Finland was working on, we knew this is what we wanted to run with. So, we set up a new company, St1 Biofuels with them," he explains. Nowadays St1 Biofuels is wholly owned by St1. The company has become the first anywhere to produce bioethanol from waste and use it in its own motor fuel. The first plant, based on Etanolix® technology, was commissioned in September 2007 and has already been followed by a second, as well as a dewatering plant to process the 85 per cent ethanol the units in the field produce into pure ethanol for blending into fuel. expect to commission plants based on the first two of these processes in 2009," Anttonen says. "Extending the range of waste we can process is a big plus. It also underlines the complimentary nature of what we're offering. So it would make ideal sense to install one of our units alongside an incineration plant, for example, to get the most out of the waste stream and produce quality ethanol and promote more efficient incineration." Taking up the challenge "We started thinking about this challenge back in 200203. We didn't believe in the approach that was then being followed for bioethanol. Aside from the problems associated with this in terms of competing with food production, I also believed that the volumes needed to replace even a proportion of the oil we use today meant that it simply didn't make sense in terms of total energy use." St1 decided to focus on waste and using it close to where it is produced. We will need to radically re-think centralised production and logistics systems and reduce the amount of energy they use." A family of technologies Etanolix technology, based on continuous fermentation and evaporation, enables plant sizes to be downsized significantly compared to conventional bioethanol units, while still remaining competitive in terms of all-important production costs and energy efficiency. While Etanolix has been tailored for food industry side streams, the underlying process can make use of virtually any waste containing starch, sugars, or low concentrations of natural ethanol. "We're working on three follow-on processes to handle organic municipal waste, packaging waste and straw. We "Finland's roads will become oil-free in 30 years, or less." This complimentary approach is also something that St1 emphasises in its own business portfolio, which now includes small-scale wind power and energy pellets. "Our vision is to be a leader in carbon-dioxide-benign energy. Our technology together with the work being done by companies like Neste Oil, Stora Enso, and UPM in biofuels, for example will see Finland's roads become oil-free in 30 years, or less," predicts Anttonen. "St1 technology will see Finland's roads become oil-free in 30 years or less," predicts Mika An onen. FOCUS 13
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