AFRY’s co-operation with SunPine continues - The "third generation" facility implementation is progressing
AFRY’s co-operation with SunPine continues - The "third generation" facility implementation is progressing
Both SunPine’s operations and its plant have grown during the last years. The demand for renewable fuels has been increasing, which has led to SunPine’s decision to invest further. A construction of a new, second, production line is now in progress to meet the market demand. AFRY earned the assignment as an EPCM (engineering, procurement, and construction management) partner already in autumn 2018. The partnership includes all technical disciplines, procurement, project management, and construction management services
AFRY’s assignment includes several disciplines like process design, purchases, equipment, and contracts as well as construction management. To synchronize AFRY’s EPCM assignment and ensure SunPine’s needs, SunPine has a mirrored organization in the project group.
The construction of the new plant began in autumn 2018. The conditions of the new project are completely different from the circumstances of the first processing line, which was commissioned in 2008, in which AFRY was also involved from the beginning. SunPine’s current expansion consists of a brand new production line that is more streamlined to produce tall diesel and will have a more rigorous design. One of the biggest challenges in this project is the integration with the existing production line in order to create a flexible and maintenance-friendly facility that operates as one total unit.
“We are, of course, excited about the opportunity to contribute to an investment like this. SunPine today is a significantly larger company with its own standards and more. This project is also a so-called brownfield, where infrastructure and peripheral systems are already in place, which make the conditions of this project different compared to the first completed design,” says Jonas Kihlman, Head of Competence Line Biorefinery at AFRY Sweden, who has also worked with SunPine projects from the beginning.
Commissioning autumn 2020
Today SunPine supplies 3% of Sweden’s diesel. The new plant will have a capacity that will increase production to approximately 150,000 kbm annually. On October 18th, 2020, the new plant was ready for commissioning. Working actively to develop and expand their operations is part of SunPine’s objective to contribute to the green transformation of society.
Ulrika Hagman, a Project Manager at SunPine, says that the project is progressing according to schedule. “At present we are in good form, and if the conditions remain good, it seems like we will be able to continue in the same manner. We look forward to a smooth handover and start-up this autumn,” says Hagman.
"We could say that we’ve contributed to the third generation of SunPine. The lab model that was used to develop the process in early phases can be viewed as the first generation, and the current operating plant as the second generation," Kihlman concludes.
