Circa and Valmet have agreed a long-term partnership to optimise Circa’s Furacell production process for biochemicals at scale through the ReSolute project and in future large-scale plants. Valmet, which has wide experience in fluidised bed boilers and biomass-to-energy systems, will be the main process technology and equipment supplier.

Shell is to take a 40% stake in a C$875 million plant being developed at Varennes, Québec, by Canadian clean tech company Enerkem. This will produce 125 million litres/year of low-carbon fuels and renewable, methanol-based chemicals from 200,000 tonnes/year of non-recyclable waste and wood waste, using a proprietary thermochemical technology.

Finnish paper giant UPM has officially begun construction of its Biochemicals’s division’s €550 million facility at Leuna, Germany. The plant is expected to start production by the end of 2022. At the World BioEconomy Forum in September, the investment won the award for Bio Act of the Year.

“The biorefinery in Leuna will be the nucleus for an entirely new and high-value growth business and opens totally new markets for UPM with large growth potential for the future,” said Jyrki Ovaska, EVP of Technology at UPM.