Swedish-Michigan bioeconomy partnership announced

Gov. Granholm made a point of recognizing MSU researcher Kris Berglund at the ceremony announcing the memorandum of agreement between the NewPage Corporation and Chemrec. Berglund has been collaborating with Swedish scientists for many years and his work in the country has laid the foundaton for Michigan-Sweden business partnerships.

Eight days in, and the Michigan contingent's trip to Sweden has a tangible result.

Chemrec AB, a Swedish company, and the NewPage Corporation, which operates a paper mill in Escanaba, signed a memorandum of understanding to explore developing a plant to produce fuels from woody biomass at the Escanaba plant.

The Aug. 22 ceremony was presided over by Gov. Granholm, Swedish Ambassador Michael Wood, and Swedish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Granholm recognized Kris Berglund, MSU University Distinguished Professor of forestry and chemical engineering and materials science, as being instrumental to fostering the agreement.

In addition to his MSU appointment, Berglund is also a professor in the Department of Biochemical and Chemical Process Engineering, a department he helped found, at the Lulea University of Technology in Lulea, Sweden. His research collaborations in his family's native land (his grandfather is from a town nine miles from Lulea) have laid the groundwork for formalized Michigan-Sweden corporate partnerships such as the Chemrec-NewPage agreement.

Gov. Granholm emphasized the importance of university support at the Chemrec-NewPage announcement and thanked OBT Director Steve Pueppke for his participation in the trip to Sweden.

Berglund's research also has spawned enterprises in Michigan (in Scottville and Webberville), Sweden and France and raised tantalizing possibilities for diversified biorefineries that crank out bioproducts ranging from fuels to chemicals.

The NewPage-Chemrec plant would use Chemrec's black liquor gasification (BLG) technology. The plant would be closely integrated with the paper mill to provide energy efficiency and optimize pulp production at the mill.

"The idea of the Chemrec technology is to co-locate a black liquor gasification facility with a paper mill," Berglund explained. "The technology is interesting because it completely eliminates the food vs. fuel issue in the bioeconomy. Black liquor is a byproduct of the kraft (brown paper) processing system. Typically it's burned or disposed of in some way, but if it's gasified and formed into synthesis gas, that syngas can be used to make higher value alternative chemicals and fuels, which can raise the profit margins of a paper mill by 30 percent."

It's estimated that the technology could enable the Escanaba mill to produce up to 13 million gallons of liquid biofuel per year. Several U.S. and European studies have shown Chemrec's BLG technology is an efficient and environmentally sound way to convert woody biomass to biofuels. The technology doesn't require high-grade wood or woodchips.

"We're very pleased to cooperate with NewPage and with the state of Michigan through the MEDC to introduce our technology in the United States," said Jonas Rudberg, Chemrec CEO. "We are convinced that the results of the study will be positive and that Escanaba can be the first site for this technology in North America."

Escanaba is also the site of the MSU Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center.

The BLG technology is expected to create new on- and off-site job opportunities. New jobs would be created at the NewPage facility for both biofuel production and for the enhanced pulping capacity. Additional jobs would include logging operations, transportation and maintenance jobs, and construction jobs during the development of the plant.