Charwood Energy, a French specialist in customised biomass energy solutions, and Verallia France, the French subsidiary of Verallia Group, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a project to develop a facility to produce syngas, a renewable gas generated by the pyrogasification of biomass.
Verallia uses natural gas to manufacture its glass products (melting at around 1,550 degrees Celsius), operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Committed from 2020 onwards through its raison d’être “Re-imagining glass to build a sustainable future,” the Group aims to reduce its CO2 emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by 46 percent in 2030 compared to 2019 and to become a driving force in the transformation of the glass packaging sector.
To achieve this, Verallia France has signed a memorandum of understanding with Charwood Energy for the development of a syngas production facility, with a capacity of over 3MWth, at its Cognac site. The conclusion of this development phase should lead to the signature of a direct purchase contract to supply this site with syngas.
The facility will comprise a biomass reception and preparation unit, an oxygen production unit, a syngas production line, syngas storage, a thermal energy network, a syngas distribution network and a biochar packaging line. The syngas enrichment tests will take place at Charwood Energy’s R&D centre in Colpo, Brittany, using a dedicated pilot gasifier.
If the development is successful, construction of the facility is scheduled to start in April 2024, with commissioning in summer 2025.
Philippe Coltat Gran, Plant Director of the Cognac site, commented, “In line with the Group’s CSR strategy, our site is pioneering the development of an alternative energy source to reduce its environmental footprint. The solution of producing syngas, a renewable energy, proposed by Charwood Energy, corresponds perfectly to the Group’s strategy.”
Nicolas Rident, Managing Director of Charwood Energy, added, “We are very pleased to be able to support Verallia in its decarbonisation process at its historic site in Cognac, and to work alongside the operational teams to offer a tailor-made solution for the production of renewable gas which would aim to diversify the energy mix of the Cognac plant.”