WBM Bio Business Awards 2015
After the first day at the World Bio Markets event on 2nd March, boats departed from the event and sailed across the channels of Amsterdam to reach the National Maritime Museum in the city. A 5-star gala evening celebrating the leading bio pioneers in the industry awaited, and was attended by some of the biggest names in the field of bio-economy.
Excitement was in the air as guests waited for the winners of the 2015 Bio Business Awards to be announced. These awards are designed to reward exciting and new innovations as well as tenacity in leadership in the development of truly sustainable and renewable fuel and chemical solutions.
UPM Biofuels was a finalist in the “Commercial Scale Plant of the Year” category for its UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery in Finland, which produces wood-based renewable diesel. This award is regarded as one of the bio industry’s most prestigious accolades and is truly international in scope. UPM Biofuels was shortlisted along with two other finalists, Braskem S.A., the largest petrochemical producer in the Americas and the world's leading biopolymer producer, and Advanced Biochemical Thailand (ABT), a company that sells chemical bio products to customers across Asia. This year saw more entries for the awards than ever before.
As UPM Biofuels and the Lappeenranta Biorefinery in Finland – a country with 5.3 million inhabitants – was announced as the winner of the “Commercial Scale Plant of the Year” award, applause rose from the audience, and the team celebrations began in earnest. Being given the honour of collecting the award together with Teemu Lindberg, Technology & Production Director, and of giving the acceptance speech really was an experience to remember. We truly appreciate this award and therecognition it provides for advanced biofuels – and for our status as a bio pioneer that is on the right track with our newly launched biorefinery of wood-based renewable diesel, which operates on a commercial scale.
CEO of Green Power Conferences, Nadim Chaudhry, said: “Our industry has such outstanding leaders, innovative technology and ground-breaking partnerships happening all the time. Each year, our awards increase in both volume and quality of submission and the judges find it increasingly difficult to choose a winner. We are delighted with the calibre of this year’s winners and the vision and innovation of their entries. We congratulate UPM Biofuels for this achievement”.
It took us almost five years to develop the technology and process, two years to build the first wood-based biorefinery of its kind, half a year to commission it in phases, and finally start commercial production in January this year. This award definitely goes to the UPM Biofuels team who believed in it, made it happen, built the biorefinery and made a business out of it. That night it felt great to be the first.