Metsä Group Kemi bioproduct mill inaugurated also in news potential funding for Metsä Group from the EU Innovation Fund.

Metsä Group Kemi bioproduct mill inaugurated

Metsä Group marked the inauguration of the bioproduct mill in Kemi on Wednesday, 23 October 2024. The mill was inaugurated by President of Finland Alexander Stubb, chair of Metsäliitto Cooperative’s Board of Directors Jussi Linnaranta,and President and CEO of Metsä Group Ilkka Hämälä.

Metsä Group has invested more than EUR 6 billion since 2015, most of it in Finland. The largest is the Kemi bioproduct mill which is today being inaugurated, worth approximately EUR 2 billion. The mill increases Finland’s annual exports by approximately half a billion euros, and its annual positive income impact in Finland will also be about half a billion euros. The bioproduct mill employs approximately 250 people, with a total of around 500 persons working in the mill area. The mill’s direct value chain in Finland employs approximately 2,500 people, mainly in wood supply.

Metsä Group’s principle is to build mills that take energy production, environmental efficiency, and the manufacturing of wood-based products to a new level. The Kemi bioproduct mill, which does not use fossil fuels, operates below the emissions limits of the old mill’s environmental permit while having more than double the production capacity of the previous mill. The mill generates two terawatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to the combined annual consumption of 100,000 electrically heated detached houses.

“When we have the opportunity to carry out a development project like the bioproduct mill, the target levels must be raised. The bar must be higher than ever before,” said Metsä Group President and CEO Ilkka Hämälä in his speech.

According to Hämälä, the bioproduct mill concept, which is built in Kemi and Äänekoski, makes it possible to achieve the forest industry’s climate and environmental goals. The bioproduct mill’s core is its state-of-the-art pulp mill, serving as the basis for development of industry utilising pulp and production side streams. This gradually developing complex is called a bioproduct mill.

“Since its founding over a century ago, the Kemi mill has been a major contributor to the vitality of northern Finland. But the development of Metsä Group’s industrial ecosystem will not end with these investments. Kemi’s success story in the Finnish forest industry will continue in the coming decades,” said Hämälä.

The bioproduct mill will produce 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and birch pulp per year. The pulp will be used to manufacture numerous renewable products for the everyday needs of millions of people: paperboard, tissue paper, specialty paper and printing paper. In addition to pulp, the bioproduct mill will significantly increase the production of co-products, namely tall oil, turpentine and bioenergy. Other products manufactured for sale or for Metsä’s internal use include product gas, pellets, sulphuric acid, heat and steam. In time, space for the manufacture of new products will become available on the site of the old pulp mill.

Metsä Group’s bioproduct mill and expanded paperboard mill started operations in Kemi on 20 September 2023. After an interruption caused by an explosion at the bioproduct mill’s evaporation plant, the mill resumed production in June 2024. The mill’s second year of operation is now starting from a solid foundation.

Potential funding for Metsä Group from the EU Innovation Fund

The project aiming to develop a new Muoto^® packaging business for Metsä Group was highly scored in the European Commission’s evaluation process, and the company was therefore invited to negotiate with the European Union about a possible co-financing for the first commercial Muoto mill planned in Rauma, Finland. The negotiations are expected to last approximately six months. The exact details, including the level of funding, will only be confirmed during the negotiations.

Metsä Group is taking the Muoto project forward on three main fronts. The demo mill in Äänekoski is used to develop the new manufacturing method together with Valmet. Pre-commercial sales have been launched with potential customers, with the aim of getting a better understanding of the market’s view of the Muoto product. The pre-engineering phase of factory planning related to a possible Rauma mill is underway. If promising results are obtained from each of the three main fronts mentioned above and the negotiations with the European Commission on co-financing of the mill investment are concluded favourably, Metsä Group will be in a position to consider investing in the Muoto mill and in the start-up of the Muoto business, possibly as early as next year.

Muoto is a completely new type of moulded fibre package that is suitable for, for example, take-away, berry boxes or packaging trays.

For further information, please contact: Katariina Saelan, SVP, Communications, Metsä Group, tel. +358 40 8299455 Metsä Group www.metsagroup.com – Metsä Spring www.metsaspring.com

Metsä Group has its roots in the Finnish forests: our parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative is owned by over 90,000 forest owners. We use wood to make recyclable products for the day-to-day lives of millions of people globally. We focus on wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, paperboards, and tissue and greaseproof papers. We are committed to the principles of regenerative forestry to measurably strengthen the state of forest nature. We promote a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion. In 2023 our sales totaled EUR 6.1 billion, and we have around 9,500 employees.

Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring invests in and supports potential innovations and technologies that find new purposes and higher value for Nordic wood to replace fossil-based materials and chemicals in everyday products. We promote a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion. To date, Metsä Spring has made six external startup investments to Woodio, Innomost, Montinutra, Fiberwood, Adsorbi, and FineCell, and has launched two in-house development projects, Kuura and Muoto. 

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