Page 162 - CW E-Magazine (2-4-2024)

News from Abroad

FEEDSTOCK TRANSPORTATION
UPM moves to secure sustainable wood supplies

for its German biorefinery

Finland-based UPM Biochemicals
has announced another milestone in
the development of its first biorefinery
in Leuna, Germany. In partnership with
DB Cargo, the first deliveries of wood
have now been made to Leuna by rail,
establishing and testing the direct rail
link to the Leuna operations’ wood yard.

This will enable UPM to transport chemicals. “We will offer fully sustain- made of wood from sustainably man-
wood sustainably and to strengthen local able renewable chemicals with a signi- aged regional forests have been pro-
supply chains, increasing the security ficantly better CO footprint compared duced, confirming the overall progress
2
of supply with critical raw materials. to fossil alternatives. It is paramount made on-site,” the company informed.
DB Cargo is a long-standing partner for that we work on strategies to continu- UPM is investing €1,180-mn to build
timber transportation in the rail sector ously optimize the environmental per- the “world’s first industrial scale bio-
and has been handling UPM’s paper formance of our products further. Using refinery” in Leuna that will convert sus-
and pulp freight for several years. rail as a transport mode does exactly tainably sourced, certified hardwood
that,” he explained. into next generation biochemicals. The
“We are excited to welcome the first Leuna biorefinery is part of a broader
rail-based wood transports at our newly Wood handling and processing growth area, UPM Biorefining, that is
established wood yard in Leuna,” said activities have started as part of the scaling refineries to produce a variety
Mr. Andreas Meggendorfer, Director commissioning and start-up work for of renewable fuels and chemicals made
Supply Chain & Sourcing at UPM Bio- the biorefinery. “The first wood chips from sustainable biomass.

RENEWABLE ALTERNATIVE
Chemours and partners to get US govt. grant for

advancing green hydrogen technologies

American chemicals firm, Chemours, strates high levels of durability in a PEM
has announced that the US Depart- electrolyser stack. The project’s goals
ment of Energy (DoE), under the include creating products that can be
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, selected manufactured cost-effectively at scale,
two of its applications for grants total- a significant challenge the hydrogen
ling $60-mn. These grants will be used industry faces today. Chemours was also
by Chemours and its partners for the named a project partner in H2CIRC, a
advancement of technology to support new consortium dedicated to producing
next-generation membranes for pro- a blueprint for the hydrogen industry to
ton exchange membrane (PEM) water Chemours is the lead recipient on a efficiently and sustainably recover and
electrolysis to advance a domestic project entitled “Durable, High-Perfor- recycle materials and components from
hydrogen economy supply chain and mance Membranes for Proton Exchange fuel cells and electrolysers.
establish a new Recovery and Recy- Membrane Water Electrolysis”, where
cling Consortium dedicated to enabling the company will leverage its technical “Selection by the US DoE for
the circularity of PEM electrolysers and expertise to develop a low-resistance these grants furthers our leading role
fuel cells. Nafion branded membrane that demon- and builds on the public, private, and

162 Chemical Weekly April 2, 2024

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