In Sweden, Midstrom, Europe’s first dedicated aggregator of biogenic carbon dioxide (bioCO2) from the pulp and paper sector, has announced that it has entered into collaborations with Essity Health Care AB and Ahlstrom Sweden AB to explore how bioCO2 from two Swedish mills can be brought to market and used to support Europe’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
Backed by InnoEnergy, a European impact fund, Midstrom is deploying a “Build-Own-Operate” model; the company finances and manages the entire infrastructure chain, removing financial risk from emitters while guaranteeing bankable, industrial-scale supply of this critical feedstock.
As a first step, the partners have launched feasibility studies at Essity’s Lilla Edet mill and Ahlstrom’s Billingsfors mill to assess technical, logistical and commercial requirements for carbon capture and utilisation (CCU).
Connecting Swedish bioCO2 with European demand
The collaboration brings together industrial emitters and value-chain development expertise to explore how bioCO2 from Swedish pulp and paper mills could be connected with growing European demand.
By working with two established pulp and paper producers, Midstrom is taking an important step toward developing scalable and commercially viable bioCO2 value chains.
BioCO2 can be used as a feedstock for synthetic fuels and chemicals or permanently stored to generate carbon dioxide removals (CDR).
Pulp and paper mills represent a significant potential source, but many individual sites lack the scale, infrastructure, and commercial arrangements needed to bring it to market.
Midstrom was created to address this gap. Its model aggregates bioCO2 from multiple industrial sites and connects those volumes with companies seeking (bio)CO2 for electro-fuel (eFuel) production or carbon storage.
By scaling across several sites, Midstrom aims to reduce the infrastructure, market, and regulatory barriers that many individual emitters face when seeking to bring bioCO2 to market.
This approach can help reduce the risks associated with developing new CO2 value chains, allowing industrial companies to evaluate opportunities without having to navigate evolving markets on their own.
Biogenic carbon dioxide is becoming a strategic feedstock for Europe’s energy transition, but connecting dispersed industrial emitters that lack the scale, infrastructure, or market access with the emerging demand remains a significant challenge. Collaborating with Essity and Ahlstrom allows us to work directly with leading industrial companies to explore how biogenic CO₂ can be brought to market and helps us further develop Midstrom’s model for building scalable value chains, said Jeremiah Dutton, Midstrom Venture Lead at InnoEnergy.
Testing the model at two industrial sites
Essity’s Lilla Edet mill, near Gothenburg, produces tissue using a largely fossil-free energy supply, making the CO2 in its flue gases predominantly biogenic.
The study will assess the technical and operational implications of adding carbon capture at a site that has already significantly reduced fossil emissions.
Through this collaboration, we can explore how biogenic carbon dioxide from our operations could contribute to emerging low-carbon value chains while creating potential new opportunities for the mill, said Johan Langren, Supply Chain Sustainability, Essity Health Care.
Ahlstrom’s Billingsfors mill in western Sweden produces specialty papers and offers a different industrial setup and scale, providing an opportunity to assess carbon capture integration in another manufacturing environment.
We see value in exploring emerging opportunities linked to CO2 and carbon capture. A “collaboration” with Midstrom is a good way to assess these opportunities and get a grip on what could be possible for both our Billingsfors mill and potentially other sites in the future, said Rune Årnes, VP Health, Safety and Environment, Ahlstrom Group.
In parallel with the site studies, InnoEnergy is working with actors across the carbon capture, transport, utilisation and storage value chain to assess potential routes from Swedish industrial sites to European customers and permanent storage.
The feasibility studies will determine the technical, logistical and commercial requirements needed to capture, transport and market bioCO2 from the two mills, while assessing the long-term viability of scalable CO2 value chains.
