Second-generation renewable biofuels production, SunPine Sweden

SunPine contributes to the green transformation of society with renewable fuels

SunPine is a world-leading biorefinery whose operations and plants have grown avalanche-like. The demand for renewable fuels is high and with a new parallel production facility in place, SunPine is well prepared to meet the market's needs. AFRY has enjoyed being part of SunPine's development over the years, most recently in the role of EPCM partner.

SunPine is a world-leading biorefinery that produces second-generation renewable fuels. The raw material is a residual product from paper and pulp production, where raw diesel from SunPine is mixed into Preem's product Evolution Diesel. SunPine is owned by Preem, Sveaskog, Södra and Lawter. AFRY has had the privilege of being part of SunPine's success story, most recently in the expansion of a new parallel production line to the existing facility.

Starting our facility has worked incredibly well, we feel very proud of what we have accomplished together with everyone involved. It has been a well-executed project with good staff in several stages where AFRY as an EPCM partner has supported us in a valuable way.

Ulrika Hagman, Project Manager at SunPine

Customer - Ulrika Hagman, SunPine, outdoor

Ulrika Hagman, Project Manager at SunPine

Construction of the new facility began in autumn 2018, a project with completely different conditions than the first plant to be commissioned in 2008, where AFRY was also involved.

SunPine's new plant now has a brand new parallel line that can produce biofuel more purely with a more stringent design. The challenge in this project was the integration into the existing factory to achieve a flexible and maintenance-friendly facility.

After the expansion, SunPine's plant produces 5% of Swedish diesel consumption.

Ulrika Hagman:

In complex projects like this, it is impossible to do everything yourself, it requires the right skills to create security. We highly appreciate AFRYs and our cooperation where we have had good dialogues to come up with the best solutions together.'

Focus on safety

Another part to be pleased about in the project is the statistics of accidents on-site; during the project period, there have been no major accidents.

We are, of course, very grateful for that figure. The structure we have had around meetings, safety rounds, daily basis, etc. has been handled in an exemplary way with careful reviews of the site manager, while at the same time we have had a good atmosphere and a working environment that is appreciated by staff on site – many of different nationalities.

Ulrika Hagman

The future of the plant

Order permeates the entire project, which has also laid the foundation for completed documentation already when commissioning and along Sweden's coast in the north, SunPine's biorefinery is now ready – an energy-efficient plant well adapted for the future with sustainable products and solutions for a circular economy.

Jonas Kihlman, Head of Sector Business Biorefining for AFRY in Sweden, has been involved in SunPine's journey from the start. Kihlman says:

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

Ulrika Hagman is very happy that the project was well-executed and looks ahead:

With this, we do not only increase the volume of our deliveries to our main owner Preem. We take care of residual products from the industry and convert it into several products – but there are also other positive effects of SunPine's operations; our energy surplus turns into district heating that goes to one of the neighboring companies out here. We have created even more jobs and put Piteå on the world map.

Customer site - SunPine Sweden winter view

SunPines plant in Piteå. (Foto: SunPine media archive)

Shortly about SunPine and the project

SunPine is a world-leading biorefinery that produces several bio-based products such as raw oil, res resat, turpentine, and bio-oil. Crude oil, a by-product of pulp production, is used as a raw material for the process. The raw quantity at SunPine's plant is further upgraded via Preem, which produces Preem Evolution diesel. After the expansion, SunPine's plant produces 5% of Swedish diesel consumption. SunPine also produces resin, which can be used as a raw material for a variety of products, such as ink and paint.

Key facts