Poland: Carbon Neutrality Orlen to Develop Europe’s Second ‘New Generation Biofuel’ Project

PKN Orlen and Orlen Południe have teamed up to build a new second-generation bioethanol plant at the Jedlicze refinery in Poland. Claimed to be the first project of this kind in Poland and the second in Europe, the plant is expected to produce 25 thousand tons of bioethanol annually and is in line with the company’s ambitions of reducing carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

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Płock/Poland – Bioethanol (or ethyl alcohol) is derived from agricultural biomass. As an additive to gasoline, it can be applied in the transport sector. The bioethanol unit in Jedlicze would be the second of its kind in Europe. The first such plant was built in Romania.

The planned construction of a 2G bioethanol unit would be another investment in environmentally friendly technologies designed to reduce carbon emissions. Once brought on stream, the project would also meaningfully contribute to the fulfilment by PKN Orlen of the biofuel quota, which has been incrementally lifted. It would also create new jobs and help fully exploit the potential of agriculture in south-eastern Poland, while delivering measurable benefits to the Polish economy and the region,” says Daniel Obajtek, President of the PKN Orlen Management Board.

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Bioethanol at the Jedlicze refinery would be produced from non-food agricultural feedstocks (predominantly cereal straw) sourced mainly from Polish farmers. The result would be fuller utilization of the potential of local agriculture. The bioethanol complex would comprise the main unit and an advanced CHP plant based on a lignin-fired biomass boiler. Lignin burned at the CHP plant would be a waste product of the bioethanol unit, whose annual output would amount to some 90 thousand tons. The lignin would be burned in a 48 MW fluidized bed boiler, with all heat generated in the process to be used for the needs of facilities making up the 2G bioethanol complex.

The project would also increase the use of Orlen Południe’s land in Jedlicze for the purposes of industrial development. Additionally, it would create jobs, with about 50 new positions offered at the refinery, for specialists in advanced biotechnologies and other staff.

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