The Moerdijk Port Authority and biocommodities producer Perpetual Next today signed a letter of intent for an intensive collaboration. As part of this collaboration, Perpetual Next will establish itself at the Moerdijk Industrial Park in mid-2025, where it will build a biomethanol plant with a capacity of 220.000 tons. The port authority will support the factory where possible by facilitating connections between parties that can purchase by-products and by promoting the connection to the local hydrogen and oxygen grid. Efforts are also being made to collaborate with suppliers of feedstock, the residual waste on which the factory runs.
The Port of Moerdijk, where many chemical and heavy industry companies are located, is the most inland seaport in the Netherlands. The port authority has a strong focus on sustainability and the promotion of green chemistry. Perpetual Next is no stranger to the Industrial Park in Moerdijk; The company has owned a fermentation plant there for years where low-quality food waste is converted into biogas. Perpetual Next recently received a permit to upgrade this biogas to green gas.
René Buwalda, CEO of Perpetual Next, stated: “We already work with large, local partners in Moerdijk. Together with Port of Moerdijk, we want to further increase our presence in this leading port area, with the first major step being the construction of a biomethanol factory. The demand for biomethanol has skyrocketed worldwide and continues to grow. We are responding to that development.” In July, Perpetual Next announced that it has secured the raw materials for an annual production of 440.000 tons of biomethanol in the United States and Europe.
In March, Perpetual Next and the American TSI signed an agreement for the production of the world's largest reactors for torrefaction, a thermochemical process that is applied, among other things, to biomass to make it more suitable as a semi-finished product. Buwalda added: “We expect to reach a definitive agreement with the Moerdijk port authority in the short term to make this new factory to be built in Port of Moerdijk a leader in the global production of biomethanol.”
Photo: © Port of Moerdijk | Paul Martens
Source: Perpetual Next
