At full production capacity, which is planned for autumn of 2024, the new EUR 2.02 billion Kemi bioproduct mill will produce 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp.

Metsä Group announced that its Kemi bioproduct mill in Kemi, Finland, is ramping up towards full capacity production and pulp deliveries to customers have started. It is planned to take approximately one year to reach full production capacity at the mill.

The new mill came into operation as planned on September 20.

"When starting up a mill of this size, it is already clear that the production process must be optimized and the right process conditions must be sought to ensure continuous efficient production and high product quality," said Tomi Seppä, mill manager of the bioproduct mill. "We have been actively working on this with our equipment suppliers and the work has paid off. Production continuity, production volumes and product quality have developed in the right direction.

"Full production capacity will be reached as planned in autumn next year," Seppä added.

"At the woodyard, we also introduced new technology for unloading wood raw material and feeding it into the process, the first in the world. Building and fine-tuning the autonomy of the woodyard's autonomous cranes and training the staff requires time to achieve flawless operation. This, too, is progressing according to the planned program, and the efficiency and quality of the woodyard operations are constantly improving," Seppä noted.

Construction of the bioproduct mill started in February 2021 and took about two and a half years to complete. The EUR 2.02 billion mill will produce 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp annually, as well as numerous other bioproducts, including 2 terawatt hours of renewable electricity.

The new bioproduct mill is world class in terms of production, environmental and energy efficiency and, despite its significantly higher production capacity, it will be below the emission limits of the environmental permit for Metsä Group's old pulp mill in Kemi, which was dismantled to make way for the new mill.

Metsä Group is leading the way in advancing the bioeconomy with a focus on the growth sectors of the forest industry: wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, fresh fibre paperboards, as well as tissue and greaseproof papers.

Source: Metsä Group