Finnish companies Joensuu Biocoal Oy (an offshoot of wealth management group Taaleri) and municipal power utility Savon Voima Oyj are to work together to build a torrefied biomass production facility at Joensuu in south-eastern Finland, at the site of Savon Voima’s Iiksenvaara combined heat and power plant.

Torrefied biomass can be used as a substitute for coal in the cement and steelmaking industries, as well as in water treatment and for soil improvement, and the feedstock will be by-products from the forestry industry, mainly bark and first thinnings. Construction is to start in in the coming months, with production to begin in mid-2023. The two companies are also forming a venture to procure biomass, with a strategic aim of being able to supply both the torrefaction plant and Savon Voima’s biomass-fired plants.