Gasum biogas plants in Nordics

Vieremän Lämpö ja Vesi Oy is a company owned by the municipality of Vieremä and includes district heat, water and sewage treatment plants. District heat in the municipality is produced almost entirely with renewable biofuels.

The municipality of Vieremä has a biogas-based project under construction, where the first phase will involve a reception terminal for liquefied and compressed biogas, a backup biogas-fired power plant and a gas filling station serving transport. In addition, biogas can be used by industry and for electricity generation in Vieremä.

Gasum will supply the biogas to the terminal in liquefied form, meaning LBG. Gasum produces biogas in its own 17 biogas plants in Finland and Sweden and buys it from certified Nordic and European suppliers.

The LBG will be regasified so that it can also be compressed into CBG, which is suitable for refueling gas-powered passenger cars. The plan is for the terminal to be in use in early autumn, and the gas filling station will also open for everyone at the same time.

Aiming to create a biogas ecosystem

The project aims to create a biogas ecosystem in Vieremä. In practice, the introduction of biogas will increase security of supply, replace the use of heavy fuel oil in backup power production and allow industry in Vieremä to switch from using fossil gas to using biogas.

Vieremä also wants to create a market for locally produced biogas, which will pave the way for investments in biogas production as a new business for farms in the region. The goal is to switch to using biogas produced by local farms in the biogas terminal in stages as investments get underway.

In addition, the project will make biogas available as an alternative vehicle fuel for local residents and businesses. The project also means that the municipality of Vieremä will switch to using biogas-fueled vehicles in its own operations and in outsourced services.

Vieremä is a municipality in the North Savo region in eastern Finland and has a population of around 3,500. Vieremä is home to a lot of metal industry, but also, for example, concrete products manufacturing. Ponsse, a large manufacturer of forestry machinery, has its headquarters and factory in Vieremä.

The lifecycle emissions of biogas are 90% lower on average compared to traditional fossil fuels. Gasum’s strategic goal is to bring 7 TWh of renewable biogas yearly to market by 2027. This would mean annual savings of 1.8 million tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions for Gasum’s customers.

More information:

Dan Strengell, Commericial Sales Manager, Gasum
+358 50 352 9901, dan.strengell@gasum.com

Mikko Kajanus, CEO, Vieremän Lämpö ja Vesi
+358 400 370 112, mikko.kajanus@vierema.fi

The Nordic energy company Gasum launched the GasumHackathon innovation competition last January together with BioEconomy Business Accelerator BioPaavo by JAMK University of Applied Sciences and growth company consultancy Kasvu Open. The purpose of the competition was to find a partner with near commercial solutions and interest to take the lead in creating value from the biogenic CO₂ produced as a side stream at Gasum’s biogas plants in Finland and Sweden.

Out of the five final entrants two winners have now been chosen. Carbonaide’s solution is to use biogenic CO₂ in concrete manufacturing, enabling combination of carbon use and storage, while in the Inherit Carbon Solutions’ mature concept the CO₂ will be permanently stored in geological storage.

“The competition has been very exciting and interesting, and the level of the entrants and their solutions was very high. We decided on Carbonaide and Inherit Carbon Solutions as the winners because they had clear value propositions based on carbon reduction, potential fast implementation and good pitches”, says Mikko Syrjänen, Director, Business Development at Gasum.

“However, because of the high quality of all participants, Gasum is willing to continue discussions with all participating teams”, Syrjänen continues.

The winning teams were very happy about the result and look forward to cooperating with Gasum to deloping their solutions. Both Finnish Carbonaide and Norwegian Inherit Carbon Solutions also saw possibilities in cooperating with one another.

The winner was chosen on 19 April at the hackathon day held in Espoo, Finland by a jury consisting of representatives from Gasum, JAMK University of Applied Sciences and Kasvu Open.

“The hackathon process has been very smooth: well organized and structured. We have also received new connections because of the good visibility of the process”, says jury member Viljami Kinnunen, Senior Process Engineer at Gasum.

114 000 tons of biogenic CO₂

Gasum currently operates a network of nine biogas plants and two upgrading plants in Finland as well as seven biogas plants in Sweden. In addition, Gasum is developing several biogas plant projects in the Nordic countries.

Gasum produces annually up to 114 000 tons of biogenic CO₂ as a side stream of the biogas upgrading process, of which nearly one third is in high concentration (>95% CO₂).

Unlike CO₂ from fossil fuels, biogenic CO₂ from biogas plants originates from the decomposition of organic wastes and side-streams and is not considered a greenhouse gas emission. The biogenic CO₂ from biogas upgrading is today released into the atmosphere but capturing it could even further improve the sustainability of biogas.

Investing strongly in biogas in the coming years is part of Gasum’s strategy to help customers move towards a carbon neutral energy future. Gasum’s goal is to bring 7 TWh of renewable gas yearly to market by 2027 for a 1.8 million ton CO₂ emissions saving. Read more about Gasum’s strategic goal >

In the photo representatives of the winning teams Jonne Hirvonen and Tapio Vehmas (Carbonaide oy), as well as Audun Røsjorde and Mike Carpenter (Inherit Carbon Solutions). Photo: JAMK University of Applied Sciences.

The aim of the GasumHackathon is to find solutions and partners to utilise the biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) generated as a side stream from the biogas upgrading process in Gasum’s biogas plants in Finland and Sweden The GasumHackathon is organized in co-operation with the BioEconomy Business Accelerator BioPaavo by JAMK University of Applied Sciences, growth company consultancy Kasvu Open and Finnish Biocycle and Biogas Association.

Five teams from five different countries, introducing five diverse solutions to the challenge, were selected to continue in the competition. The solution of Danish Biogasclean A/S is about biological methanation and desulfurization. Norwegian Inherit Carbon Solutions’ want to solve the challenge by capturing and storing carbon. Finnish Carbonaide’s solution is to utilize the green carbon dioxide for carbon curing in the concrete industry. Austrian GIG Karasek GmbH – a member of Dr. Aichhorn Group – has a solution for electrochemical conversion of CO2 into fuels and chemicals. Swedish FYKO’s solution is about cultivating photosynthetic microalgae in wastewater to produce clean water, bio stimulants and organic fertilizers.

“It will be great to see the potential of very different solutions for CO2 value creation – each participant presented a solution from a diverse angle”, says Gasum’s Senior Process Engineer Viljami Kinnunen. “Now the teams have a few weeks to polish their solutions. It will be very exciting to see the final result at the end of this hackathon process. Expectations are high!”

Gasum currently operates a network of nine biogas plants and two upgrading plants in Finland, as well as seven biogas plants in Sweden. In addition, Gasum is developing several biogas plant projects in the Nordic countries. Gasum’s biogas plants presently have a production capacity of approximately 800 GWh of biogas each year. Biogas use can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by on average 90% compared to fossil fuels.

The GasumHackathon challenge concludes on 19 April 2023 when the winner or winners are announced.

Read more about the GasumHackathon on BioPaavo’s website