First loading of pellets of JSC Bionet
28 February 2017
Moscow, 27th of February, 2017 - On February, 27 first commercial shipment of industrial fuel pellets have been dispatched by Bionet (part of Gazprombank Group).
In accordance with terms of the contract with Transcor Oil Services S.A (Belgium) Bionet should ship fuel pellets from the plant to the Timber Terminal “Factor” in the port of Ust-Luga. Pellets from Bionet plant will be further burned in the CHP plant in Paris. Transcor Oil Services S.A. is part of AOT Energy, which is large European trader of oil and oil products, as well as gas, coal and biomass. Currently, JSC Bionet and Transcor Oil Services S.A. are negotiating terms of long-term off-take contract for supply of fuel pellets.
JSC Bionet is a large plant, located in the town of Onega, Arkhangelsk region, which has been built to produce 150 thousand tons per year of fuel pellets from wastes of wood industry. The raw material for the production is hydrolyzed lignin. The plant's products comply with European quality standards and have number of unique characteristics compared to traditional wood pellets such as higher calorific value, moisture resistance and hardness. The plant employs ca. 200 people. All employees of the company have passed training programs, including training on pellet production plants in Germany and Russia for key experts.
Starting 2013 Gazprombank is the major investor in the project with total amount of investments of more than EUR 40 mln. The construction stage which has been started in late 2013 has turned to commissioning of the plant with fine-tuning of production line during 2016. In parallel, the company was actively searching for potential buyers of fuel pellets and different options for delivery of the product to European countries.