Norske Skog, Choren to work on biomass to liquids

Norway's Norkse Skog, a producer of newsprint and magazine paper, announced an agreement to collaborate with Germany's Choren Industries, a gasification technology company, on second generation biofuel.

The companies plan to look at biomass to liquids production using woody biomass.

"I have high expectations for the business opportunities inherent in production of BTL. The cooperation with Choren will allow Xynergo to speed up progress in the development of these plans," said Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, CEO of Norske Skog, in a statement.

Xynergo is a recently formed biofuel subsidiary of Norske Skog that was set up to evaluate and potentially establish one to two full-scale plants for production of biomass to liquids in Norway.

"Norway has a long leadership tradition in the pulp and paper industry, a strategic partnership in exploring alternate routes for creating value out of the natural resources therefore makes a lot of sense" said Tom Blades, CEO of Choren.

Earlier this year, Choren finished construction of what it said is the world's first commercial synthetic biofuel production plant (see Choren completes biomass to liquid plant in Germany).

Choren said the 3.9 million gallon biomass to liquid facility will make biodiesel from forest residue and waste wood. The plant is now in the commissioning phase.

Norske Skog said Choren is developing plans for a full-scale plant in Germany with a targeted production of 270 million liters of biofuel annually.

A similar plant in Norway would be able to cover about 14 percent of the total Norwegian diesel consumption for road transportation, according to Norske Skog.

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