Wärtsilä, a company that specializes in solutions and lifecycle services related to the gas value chain, has been awarded a major contract to supply and construct a plant for the production of CO2-neutral liquefied natural gas for transportation applications.
The plant will have a capacity of approximately 100,000 tons per year and is located in Cologne, Germany. Wärtsilä’s technologies developed for the process design, fabrication and delivery of gas liquefaction plants and mature gas treatment solutions prior to liquefaction were key factors to secure the contract.
“It is an honor to have been awarded this order for a landmark project,” says Antti Kuokkanen, vice president of gas solutions at Wärtsilä. “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. We look forward to continuing on our mission to enable sustainable societies with smart technology.”
The feedstock for bioLNG is based on biological waste material e.g. liquid manure and food waste. The feedstock is fed to an anaerobic digestion reactor that produces biogas, which is then upgraded to biomethane and injected into the natural gas grid. 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 utilize the biomethane.
The Wärtsilä scope for this project includes the engineering, civil works, installation and commissioning of the plant. The plant will include a gas treatment system based on Wärtsilä’s Puregas CA technology, a liquefaction unit utilizing Wärtsilä’s Semi-Dual Brayton technology, storage tanks, truck filling stations and all necessary safety flare and auxiliary equipment.
The plant is expected to be fully operational by autumn 2022.
