Dive Brief:

• A Norwegian biomass company and a German pulverizer manufacturer are collaborating to create a new type of biorefinery that will use organic waste to create fertilizer and clean energy. Pallman Group, of Zweibrucken, Germany and Standard Bio recently announced their partnership on the project.
• The two firms’ biorefinery concept converts trees and other biomass into briquettes that are used to create energy. The briquettes will be created by pyrolysing sawdust, or by mixing dried wood chips with tree oil through using a high-pressure wood press and drying device that was developed by both companies.
• The firms recently signed a technical and sales cooperation agreement, according to Renewable Energy from Waste Magazine. They will build a demonstration plant in a Norway forest to use wood surplus and to prove their concept. The plant is expected to be up and running sometime in 2015.

Dive Insight:

An interim goal of the partnership is to use the WTE/waste-to-product technology to provide technical and equipment packages for customers worldwide. Standard Bio currently has a prototype press which can squeeze natural oils and water from wood before it’s reduced into chips.

The new technology will convert environmental waste into commodities that can be sold around the world, said Ove Lerdahl, CEO at Standard Bio. "The technology represents a highly cost-effective and sustainable means of producing clean energy from renewable resources that has no need for government subsidies to be successful," Lerdahl said.

Much of the waste currently deposited in landfills can be recycled or composted. More cities across the U.S. are embracing the use of organics such as food waste, including Seattle.