Waste-to-Fuels Demo Plant, Research Facility Opens in Vienna
by Ron Kotrba (Biobased Diesel Daily) A demonstration facility has opened in Vienna, Austria, at the site of a waste-incineration plant where syngas from wood waste, sewage sludge and paper-industry residues is cleaned and, using a gas-to-liquid process such as Fischer-Tropsch, converted into a crude oil. This can then be further refined into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The research currently underway is part of the Waste2Value project.
“This plant is a milestone for the circular economy,” said Karl Gruber, the managing director of Wien Energie. “Here we turn waste and residues into green fuels and comparable industrial raw materials, thereby promoting climate protection in the city. The technology used here is promising. In the future, such a plant on an industrial scale could have up to 10 million liters (more than 2.64 million gallons) of green fuel per year and thus save up to 30,000 tons of fossil CO2.”
This would be enough climate-neutral fuel to run the entire public bus fleet in Vienna. A bus test operation with the green fuel is also planned as part of the research project.
In addition to the manufacturing of biobased diesel, the production of green gas or green hydrogen is also part of the Waste2Value research project’s medium-term goals. READ MORE