Finland-headed forest industry major Metsä Group has announced that it has started operating a carbon capture pilot plant at its Rauma pulp mill, in cooperation with Austria-headed international technology major Andritz AG (ANDRITZ), which supplied the plant. Operational since June 2025, the pilot will test the capture of carbon dioxide from pulp mill flue gases, an application not previously trialed in the industry.
During the autumn of 2025, various operating models will be tested concerning aspects such as energy consumption and the amount of carbon captured.
The pilot period will also provide information about the need for flue gas treatment and the quality of the end product.
So far, the technology appears to be working well with the pulp mill’s flue gases, said Kaija Pehu-Lehtonen, SVP Business Development and the Director of Metsä Group’s carbon capture project.
Explore a larger-scale demo
As part of the Rauma mill pilot, Metsä Group will also explore the possibility of a larger-scale demo plant for carbon capture at a second location at its Rauma mill with a potential capacity between 30,000 and 100,000 tonnes of captured carbon dioxide.
This is over one hundred times that of the pilot plant, which can capture approximately one tonne of CO2 per day.
No decision has been made regarding the project or the location of the demo plant. Implementing the project would require resolving all technical and financial issues.
Untapped resource
Biogenic carbon dioxide (bioCO2) is a virtually untapped pulp mill side stream. It can be used as a raw material, for example, in the chemical and fuel industries, and serves as a replacement for fossil-based raw materials.
Carbon capture does not increase wood use at the pulp mill, nor does it undermine production efficiency.
The investments related to capture are large, and the market is underdeveloped, so we’re proceeding gradually. In addition, the value chains from raw material to finished products are often new and complex, requiring close cooperation between the participants and insight into industrial operations, said Kaija Pehu-Lehtonen.
Through its development activities, Metsä Group says it “wants to promote the emergence of markets.”
However, the company points out that market development also depends on regulation at the EU and national level, as well as on investment support for the green transition, adding that “state aid for the green transition will play a key role in accelerating industrial investment.”
