In Finland, Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, has awarded AFRY (ÅF Pöyry) the engineering services assignment for the new sawmill in Rauma as well as project management and engineering services assignment for the new bioproduct mill in Kemi. The key objectives of these investments are increased environmental efficiency and fossil-free operations by utilising advanced technology and a high level of digitalisation.
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Metsä Fibre and AFRY started the pre-engineering of Metsä Fibre’s investments, totalling approximately EUR 2 billion, in the spring of 2019.
We have a long history of collaboration with AFRY in our strategic projects. When selecting partners, we value safety, quality and reliability, and AFRY has proven to meet all these criteria. Now we have a common target to build the next-generation sawmill, which is a significant leap forwards for the whole sawmill industry. Additionally, we also have the common target to build the pre-requisites for the investment decision on Kemi bioproduct mill in the autumn, said Ismo Nousiainen, CEO of Metsä Fibre.
Finland’s largest ever sawmill investment
Metsä Fibre has recently announced its decision to build the world’s most modern sawmill in Rauma. The value of the investment is approximately EUR 200 million, and the new unit will produce around 750 000 cubic metres (m3) of pine sawn timber per annum year.
Construction will begin in the spring of 2020. Production at the sawmill is set to begin during the third quarter of 2022 subject to impacts the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) may have on the schedules.
Metsä Fibre has awarded AFRY the construction phase engineering assignment including detail engineering of all disciplines. The contract is a continuation of the pre-engineering phase in which AFRY has been involved since spring 2019.
The new sawmill will be a worldwide forerunner both in technology and efficiency. For example, using machine vision and artificial intelligence in different stages of the sawing process is a significant new development. Similar technology is not yet in use anywhere else in the sawmill industry.
Letter of Intent signed for Kemi bioproduct mill construction phase
Metsä Fibre has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with AFRY regarding project management and engineering services during the possible construction phase of the Kemi bioproduct mill. AFRYs assignment in the pre-engineering of the Kemi bioproduct mill continues, and Metsä Group expects to be ready to make a decision on this approximately EUR 1.5 billion mill investment in the autumn of 2020.
Metsä Fibre’s planned Kemi bioproduct mill would produce 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp a year as well as numerous other bioproducts. The starting point for the planning of the new bioproduct mill has been a high level of environmental, energy and materials efficiency. The mill would not use any fossil fuels at all, and its electricity self-sufficiency rate would be 250 per cent.
AFRY’s assignment includes Project Management services for the whole mill and all engineering disciplines for Balance of Plant (BOP). In addition, AFRY will coordinate the overall digitalisation of the mill with BIM (Building Information Modeling) and PIM (Process Information Modeling) of the project including the establishment of SSOT (Single-Source-of-Truth) concept towards a digital twin, enabling the use of efficient digital applications to boost mill performance.
The contract is conditional upon investment decision, and AFRY continues pre-engineering until the final investment decision.
