SCA and St1 form advanced biofuels JV, to build 60MGY project in Finland by 2023

In Finland, SCA and St1 formed a joint venture to produce and sell advanced biofuels. The new biorefinery is under construction on the St1 refinery site in Gothenburg and will have a total capacity of 200,000 tonnes (approximately 60 million gallons) of liquid biofuels. 

The project is designed to optimize production of renewable HVO diesel and biojet fuel and to use tall oil-based feedstock. The joint venture will have access to SCA’s tall oil, a by-product from the kraft pulp production at SCA’s mills in Östrand, Obbola and Munksund. The biorefinery will also be capable of using a wide range of other feedstocks and is expected to be operational in Q2 2023.

SCA will supply tall oil to the joint venture and will invest approximately SEK 0.6 billion in the company. SCA and St1 will be equal shareholders of the joint venture, which will itself have a 50% share in the St1 Gothenburg Biorefinery, which is now making an investment in a biorefinery with total capacity of 200,000 tonnes of liquid biofuels, estimated to a total investment cost of SEK 2.5 billion. 

As part of the agreement, St1 becomes a 50% owner of SCA Östrand Biorefinery. The Östrand biorefinery project has recently received environmental permits for the production of 300,000 tonnes of liquid biofuels based on black liquor (a by-product from kraft pulp production) and solid biomass (such as sawdust or bark). The biorefinery in Östrand is a development project where a number of technological challenges remain to be solved before a project design can be finalized.

Reaction from the stakeholders

“Partnership with SCA is a key element in the implementation of our renewable fuels investment program and it secures the supply of renewable feedstock materials to meet the ambitious Nordic climate targets for 2030”, says Henrikki Talvitie, CEO of St1 Nordic Oy.

“In line with our communicated long term strategy, we will now with the joint venture with St1 go from being a supplier of tall oil to the chemical and fuel industries to becoming active in the further refining of our renewable raw materials”, says Ulf Larsson, President and CEO of SCA. “We will continue to develop the business potential of the renewable by-products we have from our forests and industries in order to further develop our value chain and to contribute to the EU’s ambitious climate strategy.”

The St1backstory

St1 Nordic Oy is a Nordic energy group whose vision is to be the leading producer and seller of CO2-aware energy. The Group researches and develops economically viable, environmentally sustainable energy solutions. St1 focuses on fuels marketing activities, oil refining and renewable energy solutions such as waste-based advanced ethanol fuels and industrial wind power. The Group has 1250 St1 and Shell branded retail stations in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Headquartered in Helsinki, St1 employs currently more than 1000 people. More on the company here.

The SCA backstory

The core of SCA’s business is the growing forest, Europe’s largest private forest holding. Around this unique resource, SCA have built a well-developed value chain based on renewable raw material from the company’s own and others’ forests. SCA offer packaging paper, pulp, wood products, renewable energy, services for forest owners and efficient transport solutions. 2020 the forest products company SCA had approximately 4,000 employees and sales amounted to approximately SEK 18.4 bn (EUR 1.8 bn). SCA was founded in 1929 and has its headquarters in Sundsvall, Sweden. More on the company here.