Henrik Stiesdal is a well-known pioneer in the wind turbine industry and most recently for floating offshore wind with the Stiesdal TetraSpar Demonstrator. But at DI Energi's Green Gas Days 2023, the topic is different, and there is a good reason for that.
- The climate is just going badly, and if we are going to solve our problems, then something just has to happen. Some CO2 needs to be removed from the air, but direct air capture is far too expensive. You can cheat and use nature so that plants absorb the CO2. But it is far too slow. That is why pyrolysis is a solution, explains Henrik Stiesdal, and pulls out a slide that supports his statement:
- You can see here how the world's emissions have risen steadily over the last 50 years. So the curve is saw-toothed. Emissions go down only to go up again. This is because emissions decrease when plants grow and absorb CO2 again, when they rot and release CO2 again.
So what exactly is pyrolysis?
- Pyrolysis is done by heating either biogas residue fibers or straw to 600 degrees, which creates biochar and pyrolysis gas. Some people believe that biochar is full of heavy metals. There is nothing dangerous in our biochar. It can be used as fertilizer on the fields because it is such a pure quality, and the gas can be used, says Henrik Stiesdal.
The possibilities for using the gas could be directly in industry, or it can be refined into fuel. It is fuel that can be used for, for example, truck transport. Or it can be used for methanol production, which can then be used for aviation fuel.
- It's not smart to hang out across the Atlantic in a plane with a battery, which is why aviation fuel is needed. In the long term, we will be able to produce three to four times the world's need for aviation fuel this way, explains Henrik Stiesdal.
One of his companies is already in production. It's Stiesdal SkyClean.
- We already have a 20 MW plant at Stiesdal SkyClean, says Henrik Stiesdal and elaborates on several advantages:
- The straw costs money, while we get biogas residue fibers for free. Pyrolysis can do something that fossil fuels can't, we can give fixed prices. Pyrolysis is a well-known technology that has been known since Roman times for the production of coal, he concludes.
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
