Finland-based technology company Wartsila said Oct. 8 it would build a CO2-neutral LNG production facility in Cologne, Germany, that is expected to be fully operational by the autumn of 2022.
The facility is designed to have a capacity of 100,000 mt/year with the LNG produced set for use in the transportation sector, it said.
"The use of LNG as an emissions-reducing fuel in the marine and transportation industries is already well established, and to introduce bioLNG which can be mixed with LNG is the next obvious step in enabling a CO2-neutral transportation fuel," Wartsila's vice president for gas solutions, Antti Kuokkanen, said in a statement.
The feedstock for bioLNG is based on biological waste material such as liquid manure and food waste, which is fed to an anaerobic digestion reactor that produces biogas.
That gas is then upgraded to biomethane and injected into the gas grid, the company said.
Green gas certificates are issued along with the injected biomethane, which then permits operators at other locations, such as liquefaction plants producing bioLNG, to buy the certificates and use the biomethane.
Wartsila said its plant in Cologne would include a gas treatment system, a liquefaction unit storage tanks, truck filling stations, and all necessary safety flare and auxiliary equipment.
"The plant is expected to be fully operational by autumn 2022," it said.
