Järva rural municipality government, Estonia, has issued a building permit for the wood valorisation flagship plant to be established by Graanul Biotech, subsidiary of Graanul Invest. Construction work on the industrial demo plant is planned to start in Imavere in July, as the company says in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
One-of-a-kind flagship plant that will be established in Imavere uses hardwood residues as raw material and turns biomass into biomaterials with innovative characteristics – high-purity lignin and wood sugars. The new biomaterials offer sustainable solution for many different industries – from chemistry and food industry to cosmetics and construction materials.
“We are delighted that Imavere as the heart of Estonian wood industry is growing into a globally important centre of wood valorisation,” said Raul Kirjanen, CEO of Graanul Invest. “15 years ago, the story of Graanul Invest started with the first plant in Imavere, and now an innovative industrial demo plant that allows for the research and development to move to the next level in wood valorisation is in the process of being built next to that same plant.”
According to Peep Pitk, Head of Research and Development at Graanul Invest group, innovative processing of wood provides the opportunity to move from a resource-based wood industry model to a knowledge-based model for developing innovative bioprocesses and novel materials. The demo plant technology has been developed with target to have a minimal ecological footprint and low impact on the environment, which allows dimensioning the plant size according to local conditions.
The demo plant is part of the SWEETWOODS project that has received research financing that is one of the largest in Estonia and one of the most influential in the EU – Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking is supporting the project with Euro 20.96 million.
