Spain-headed paper and packaging major Saica Group has announced that it has decided to accept a EUR 32.7 million grant awarded to the company by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism for its PERTE (Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation), which aims to decarbonise the recycled paper process at its mill in El Burgo de Ebro, Zaragoza, Spain.
The objective of the PERTE program, which was launched in January 2024, is to drive decarbonization by assisting companies in the comprehensive transformation of their energy strategy from fossil to renewable sources.
The project was declared of Regional Interest by the Regional Government of Aragon, and Saica Group now envisages that the “corresponding administrative permits will not compromise the very tight deadlines established for the assumption of the aid.”
Significant investment
For Saica Group, the PERTE would involve a total investment of EUR 101.5 million and the creation of 440 direct and indirect jobs – 40 direct, 200 indirect, and 200 linked to the design, construction, and execution of the infrastructures.
The investment includes the development of a comprehensive decarbonization project comprising six directly related primary projects, at the Group’s paper mill in El Burgo, which currently operates three paper machines producing a total of 1.3 million tonnes per annum of 100 percent recycled and recyclable paper for packaging.
All the investment actions currently planned for El Burgo de Ebro will collectively reduce fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the complex by 53 percent, through improved efficiency and reduced consumption of fossil gas.
New bioenergy plant
The main actions reflected in the project are the start-up of a biomass energy generation plant, with a steam production of more than 700,000 tonnes per year; the implementation of a biomass preparation plant, which would treat approximately 160,000 tonnes per year; the assembly of a back-pressure steam turbine to be installed in the existing energy recovery plant; and the start-up of a biogas boiler, with the capacity to use the biogas generated in the plant’s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
We are very grateful for the institutional support received for a strategic and exciting project for us, which will enable us to significantly reduce emissions at our El Burgo de Ebro plant, said Susana Alejandro, President and CEO of Saica Group, who also stressed the “importance of the administrative procedures involved in these energy solutions not jeopardising the tight deadlines set by the ministry to receive the subsidy.”
