The LignoBoost plant is to be integrated with the pulp mill to separate and collect Lignin from the black liquor. The new biorefinery will reduce the CO2 emissions of the mill by replacing a significant amount of natural gas with dried lignin fired in the lime kilns. This is also the first step towards the creation of a new business to sell lignin to external customers.
“This investment is a significant step in the transformation of the Sunila mill towards an innovative and customer focused biorefinery. It will improve the mill’s environmental performance and enable Stora Enso Biomaterials Division to step into new markets with renewable solutions based on lignin,” says Sakari Eloranta, Senior Vice President, Operations and Investment Projects, Stora Enso Biomaterials.
“LignoBoost is one of our biotechnology solutions that responds to the growing interest in utilizing bio-based raw materials. The technology was originally developed by Innventia and the Chalmers University of Technology. Metso acquired the technology in 2008 in its entirety and has developed it further. We are happy that we have been able to take this technology to commercial scale in our customer projects,” explains Anders Larsson, Director, Bio Materials, from Metso’s Pulp and Energy business line.
The order consists of a LignoBoost plant which will produce 50,000 metric tons of dried lignin per year. This will be the second commercial LignoBoost in the world. The first plant started- up this year at the Domtar Plymouth mill North Carolina, USA.
Stora Enso Biomaterials offers a variety of pulp grades to meet the demands of paper, board and tissue producers. The Sunila mill has an annual capacity of 370,000 tonnes of softwood pulp. The mill employs approximately 160 people.
As of January 2014, Metso's Pulp, Paper and Power business will serve its customers with an even more focused and competitive approach as an independent, listed company, Valmet Corporation.
