The delegation from WBA’s Board consisted of 12 people from various companies, bioenergy organizations and universities in Indonesia, Poland, Belgium, India, Lithuania, Hungry, Malaysia and Mexico. Alarik Sandrup, Director of Public and Regulatory Affairs at Lantmännen and part of the WBA’s Board, had invited the guests in connection to WBA’s annual meeting which was held in Stockholm the day before. Jan Mauritzson, CEO of Lantmännen Agroetanol, and Oliver Teichert, Head of Production Engineering at Agroetanol, also participated in the meeting.
– The international delegates were very impressed by Agroetanol, which once again confirms that the production facility is world class, maybe even the best of its kind. Our ongoing investments have made Agroetanol a front runner globally when it comes to sustainable biofuels, bioeconomy and climate benefit, says Alarik Sandrup.
The plant's use of various raw materials as input, using residues from the food industry such as bread and crisps, attracted a lot of interest from the visitors and demonstrated the great flexibility of the plant’s production. The visitors were also impressed by the fact that Agroetanol gets its bio-based process energy from EON's power station a few hundred meters away and that the return steam from Agroetanol is used to heat Norrköping via the district heating network.
– Internationally there is a need to spread knowledge about the great potential of bioenergy in creating sustainable energy systems and transports, and to solve climate change. In this aspect, WBA is making a big difference through advocacy and distribution of information about the great opportunities of bioenergy at for example international energy conferences and UN climate summits, says Alarik Sandrup. Here Agroetanol can be one of the green industrial examples that the organization WBA can showcase.
During the visit, Alarik was invited by the WBA delegates to speak at a major energy conference in Istanbul, showing that Lantmännen Agroetanol also has made a great impact outside of Sweden.
The World Bioenergy Association (WBA) has its head office in the Swedish Bioenergy Association's (Svebio) office in Stockholm. WBA has more than 240 members from approximately 60 countries. The organization’s mission is to promote the increasing utilization of bioenergy globally in an efficient and sustainable way and to support the business environment for the bioenergy companies. Lantmännen is a Silver sponsor of WBA and has since 2017 been represented by Alarik Sandrup on their board. Read more about WBA here: http://worldbioenergy.org/