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Start-up of Metsä Group’s Äänekoski bioproduct mill to begin in August

Metsä Group has announced that it's new Äänekoski bioproduct mill is scheduled for start-up in mid-August with pulp deliveries to customers from the 1.3 million tonne per annum capacity pulp mill to begin in early September.

Start-up for Metsä Fibre's new 1.3 million tonne per annum capacity pulp mill in Äänekoski is scheduled for mid-August (photo courtesy Metsä Group).
Start-up for Metsä Fibre’s new 1.3 million tonne per annum capacity pulp mill in Äänekoski is scheduled for mid-August (photo courtesy Metsä Group). Start-up for Metsä Fibre's new 1.3 million tonne per annum capacity pulp mill in Äänekoski is scheduled for mid-August (photo courtesy Metsä Group).

Start-up is nearing for the single largest forest industry investment ever in Finland – the Metsä Fibre Äänekoski bioproduct mill. Metsä Fibre is the pulp and sawn wood subsidiary of Finland-headed forest and forest industry major Metsä Group.

According to a statement, the estimated EUR 1.2 billion project has progressed as planned – on schedule and according to the budget – towards the mill’s start-up scheduled for mid-August and with pulp deliveries to customers from the mill to begin in early September. Construction of the new mill, which will replace the existing pulp mill in Äänekoski once operations begin, had commenced in April 2015.

Department trials and commissioning

Currently, the 1.3 million tonne per annum capacity pulp and bioproduct mill project is in the departments’ trial run and commissioning phase. The new wastewater treatment plant has already started up with wastewater from the Äänekoski integrated mill site.

From now on, all of the mill site’s wastewater and, following the start-up of the new mill, also the bioproduct mill’s wastewater will be diverted to the treatment plant. Modern treatment technology enables the bioproduct mill to operate in line with the permit limits for the existing pulp mill, even though the bioproduct mill will produce nearly triple the amount of pulp.

The trial production run of the bioproduct mill’s new drying machine has begun with the pulp of the current pulp mill, and the new machine will be in productional use at the beginning of July.

The measures completed before the start-up aim to ensure a good start-up curve for the bioproduct mill. Once the mill reaches full production, Metsä Group will be the world’s biggest producer of softwood pulp, said Ilkka Hämälä, CEO of Metsä Fibre.

The bioproduct mill will achieve its nominal capacity of 1.3 million tonnes of pulp approximately a year from the start-up. In addition, the mill will produce other bioproducts, such as tall oil, turpentine, product gas and sulphuric acid. The next-generation bioproduct mill will not use any fossil fuels since it will generate all of the energy that it needs from side streams. In terms of its energy efficiency, the mill is among the world’s best within its industry. Its degree of self-sufficiency in electricity is 240 percent.

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