Chinese bioenergy firm Kaidi plans to build a €1 billion biofuel refinery in Kemi, Finland that will use wood as the main feedstock to produce 200,000 tons of biofuels per year.

Kaidi says the second-generation biofuel plant—i.e., using biomass as a feedstock rather than the sugars and vegetable oils found in arable crops—will be the first of its kind not only in Finland, but globally. It will generate 75% biodiesel and 25% biogasoline.

Finland has vast biomass resources, plenty of potential partner companies and an extremely progressive biofuels policy, says Chen Yilong, chairman and CEO of Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group.“Finland has vast biomass resources, plenty of potential partner companies and an extremely progressive biofuels policy,” says Chen Yilong, chairman and CEO of Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group.

Among the project's goals, the company says, is to prove that high-quality biodiesel can be sustainably produced from wood-based biomass.

Kaidi’s technology is based on:

· Plasma gasification that converts organic matter into synthetic gas.

· Syngas cleanup that scrubs and filters unwanted or damaging impurities apart from hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

· The Fischer-Tropsch process to convert a hydrogen/carbon monoxide mixture into liquid hydrocarbons.

Kaidi says the biodiesel produced in the plant will be cleaner and of a higher quality than first-generation biodiesel. Additionally, the fuel will be able to be mixed with fossil diesel in any proportion, making it versatile and easy to use, according to the company.

Discussions with subcontractors and other stakeholders are ongoing, with a final investment decision to be made by the end of 2016. The building process would start in 2017 and the plant could be operational by the end of 2019.