Metsä Fibre said construction of its Kemi bioproduct mill is progressing on schedule. Mill test run and trials are currently underway, as is installation work.
Wood deliveries to the new mill began in April, transported by road and rail. The mill’s new electrified private track allows the wood to be brought right up to the mill by an electric locomotive. The first train carrying a wood load arrived at the mill on 21 April, 2023.
Logistics Powered by Electricity
Approximately two-thirds of the raw wood consumed by Kemi bioproduct mill will be delivered to the mill area by rail.
The transport of large volumes of wood will be smooth and environmentally efficient by design, accounting for everything from the loading of the wood and rail transports to the unloading of the deliveries.
The locomotives that pull the railcars and the autonomous cranes put into use in the woodyard during the spring are all electrically driven.
Water Treatment Plant and Wastewater Treatment Plant Already in Operation
The new bioproduct mill has an advanced closed chemical cycle in which water and chemicals are recycled and returned to the process for reuse.
The bioproduct mill’s water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant began operations during the spring. The advanced wastewater treatment plant is initially being used to treat wastewaters from the existing pulp mill on the site.
Construction is moving forward to the bioproduct mill’s start-up during the third quarter. The number of people working on-site will decrease as the installations are completed.
Project Background
Metsä Fibre is building a new bioproduct mill to Kemi, Finland. The value of the investment is EUR 2.02 billion and it is the largest investment ever made by the Finnish forest industry in Finland.
The Kemi bioproduct mill will produce some 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp per year, as well as many other bioproducts. It will also produce 2.0 TWh of renewable electricity per year, which equals to roughly 2,5 percent of Finnish total electricity production and together with Äänekoski bioproduct mill roughly 5 per cent.
The new mill will replace the current pulp mill in Kemi, which has reached the end of its lifespan.
Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, is a leading producer of wood-based bioproducts, such as pulp, sawn timber, biochemicals and bioenergy. Metsä Fibre produces pulp and bioproducts at four mills and sawn timber products at five sawmills in Finland.
SOURCE: Metsä Fibre
