Metsä Group started up its bioproduct mill

According to the Finnish company, pulp deliveries from the new mill to customers will begin in early September 2017. Metsä said that its old pulp mill in Äänekoski has been shut down and is currently be dismantled.

The new mill will achieve its nominal capacity approximately a year after start-up. „Metsä Group will be the world’s biggest producer of softwood pulp,” said Ilkka Hämälä, CEO of Metsä Fibre. The mill will produce 1.3 million tonnes of pulp per year, along with other bio-based products such as tall oil and turpentine. New bioproducts include product gas from bark, sulphuric acid from the mill’s odorous gases, and biogas and biofuel pellets from sludge.

The mill will be a platform for production of new bio-based products among them lignin products, textile fibres, and biocomposites. The next-generation bioproduct mill will not use any fossil fuels at all, since it will generate all of the energy that it needs from side streams. In terms of its energy efficiency, the mill is among the world’s best within its industry. Its degree of self-sufficiency in electricity is 240 per cent.