BioMCN
Delfzijl (NL)
BioMCN is the owner of the first industrial scale second generation biofuels plant in the world. The company was founded in 2006 and acquired a natural gas-to-methanol plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, with two lines of 330 kiloton capacity each. BioMCN has finalized a modification of one line, whereby glycerin replaces natural gas as the main feedstock to produce biomethanol.
The glycerin to biomethanol process attractiveness:
- Glycerin is considered a second generation biofuel feedstock in European regulation, which means it does not divert agricultural production away from food crops. As a byproduct of biodiesel production, the strong growth of the biodiesel market results in significant supply of glycerin.
- Biomethanol, like bio-ethanol, is sold to oil companies for blending transport fuels in order to adhere to national and European levels of biofuels commitments.
BioMCN aims to make an important contribution to reducing CO2 emissions by offering sustainable solutions to its customers and by continuously improving its own production process.
Driven by regulation for blending with fossil fuels, the biofuels market is growing fast. EU countries have agreed to a 5.75% market share for biofuels in the overall transport fuel supply in 2010 and 10% in 2020. Subsidies and quotas result in attractive pricing of biofuels, whilst volume demand is expected to increase significantly.
Waterland made a € 36 million investment in BioMCN, enabling it to continue further investments in the construction of processing units for the production of bio-methanol. BioMCN employs a workforce of about 80 employees.
For more information: www.biomcn.eu