Valmet to deliver biomass pre-treatment system for Clariant's plant in Romania

Finnish supplier of technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries Valmet said it has agreed with Switzerland's Clariant on the delivery of a BioTrac biomass pre-treatment system for Clariant's ethanol plant in Romania.

The order's value will not be disclosed, Valmet said in a press release on Monday.

The delivery includes a BioTrac biomass pre-treatment system with a capacity of over 800 tonnes of dry biomass a day, as well as all main parts for biomass dosing, the reactor, the feeding system to the reactor, and steam separation. The pre-treatment phase is an essential step in cellulosic ethanol production, and the goal is to make the cellulose accessible for further processing, Valmet explained.

"We have successfully been using Valmet's pre-treatment system in our pre-commercial sunliquid plant in Straubing for six years already. During this time, we have closely worked with Valmet to verify and precisely optimize the pre-treatment process for sunliquid. We are confident that we have a reliable partner in Valmet for our sunliquid plant in Romania," Clariant head of business line biofuels and derivatives, Markus Rarbach, said.

In September, Switzerland-based specialty chemicals company Clariant started the construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant near the city of Craiova, in southern Romania. The new plant, with an output capacity of 50,000 tonnes of cellulosic ethanol per year, is scheduled to start operations in 2020.

"This is a very important milestone for Valmet, being the first commercial-sized BioTrac plant for cellulosic ethanol. We are very proud to receive this order from our long-term partner Clariant, who knows our system inside and out after six years of operation at their demo plant in Straubing," Valmet biomass conversion sales manager, Mattias Erixon, said.

Clariant is a leading global specialty chemicals company based in Muttenz, near Basel, Switzerland. Clariant's sunliquid technology converts agricultural residue such as wheat straw into cellulosic ethanol, an advanced, sustainable and practically carbon-neutral biofuel.

Valmet, based in Espoo, Finland is a developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. It employs more than 2,000 professionals around the world.

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