Metsä revives operations at bioproduct mill and paperboard mill in Kemi

FINLAND – Helsinki-based forest industry group, Metsä Group has announced the recommencement of operations at its bioproduct mill and paperboard mill in Kemi, Finland.

The new Kemi bioproduct mill will produce some 1.5 million tonnes per year of softwood and hardwood pulp, increasing Kemi’s pulp capacity by almost 900,000 tonnes per year.

It replaces an existing pulp line with a capacity of 620,000 tonnes per year, which was permanently shut down. The new facility will also generate 2 TWh of renewable electricity. It uses zero fossil fuels and will be completely waste-free by 2030, according to Metsä Group.

Mestä explains that thanks to its environmentally efficient solutions, the new mill’s emissions are lower than the limits specified in the currently valid environmental permit for the closed Kemi pulp mill, despite the considerable increase in production capacity.

The bioproduct mill will use 7.6 million cubic meters of wood per year, 4.5 million cubic meters more than the old mill.

At the paperboard mill, the white-top kraftliner capacity has been expanded. Modernization and bottleneck investments allowed for an increase in production capacity by around 40,000 tonnes per year to 465,000 tonnes per year, says Mestä.

According to the group, the investments made and the integration of the bioproduct mill will reduce the paperboard mill’s water consumption by 40 percent and its energy use by 5 percent per tonne of kraftliner produced.

Meanwhile, in June, the company in collaboration with its innovation company Metsä Spring and business Fiskars Group launched a new fiber-based packaging solution named ‘Mouto 3D’.

The packaging combines elements from all three partners, including Metsä’s folding paper boxboard, which provides a high-quality printing surface to support the outer packaging.

The boxboard encases Fiskars’ ReNew scissors, made using recycled materials, and Muoto 3D inner packaging. The plastic-free packaging has been developed at Metsä Board’s Excellence Centre in Finland.

Metsä’s packaging designer Liro Numminen said: “The Excellence Centre in Äänekoski organizes workshops where we can investigate, innovate and test future material and packaging solutions based on renewable fresh fiber jointly with customers.”

One of the main feedstocks used in the packaging solution was renewable and sustainably grown wet wood harvested from Äänekoski in Finland, which was then evaluated at Metsä’s and Valmet’s joint demonstration plant.

The solution is available in different sizes and shapes and can be customized as a viable option for a variety of packages.

Metsä Spring’s product manager Tarja Heikkilä added: “Muoto 3D fiber packages can be shaped in many ways: they are pressed into their final form using new 3D technology that enables the production of rounded, complex shapes familiar from the plastics industry.

“It is also suitable for creating lightweight yet stiff packaging structures offering good protective properties.”

Heikkilä said that Muoto is currently undergoing a trial stage, which signifies that both companies are testing its potential to be introduced in the market.

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