“Biochemicals help our customers to promote the bioeconomy, replace fossil raw materials with renewable compounds, and develop new sustainable products and solutions.”
to continued growth in the demand for pine-based raw materials and biochemicals,” says Leela Landress Perez . Perez is Global Editor for the Oleochemicals & Pine Chemicals team at Argus Media. She has been working as a market analyst focusing on pine-based chemicals for more than 13 years. Biochemicals’ share of sales to rise significantly Biochemicals play an important role in Metsä Fibre’s strategy. The company is committed to using wood as efficiently as possible. Pulp production side streams are upgraded into raw materials for products that generate sustainable growth. “Biochemicals help our customers to promote the bioecono- my, replace fossil raw materials with renewable compounds, and develop new sustainable products and solutions,” says Mikael Lagerblom , in charge of European Sales at Metsä Fibre. Metsä Fibre produces Metsä Crude Tall Oil (CTO) and Metsä Crude Sulphate Turpentine (CST) at Äänekoski bioproduct mill and its pulp mills in Rauma, Joutseno and Kemi. The mills’ pro- duction volume totals about 100,000 tonnes per year. The com- pany is Europe’s largest producer of pine-based biochemicals. Metsä Fibre is now preparing for an increase in the demand for biochemicals. “In 2021, biochemicals accounted for five per cent of our sales. We now aim to increase this share significantly,” says Lagerblom. Future growth is made possible by the new bioproduct mill under construction in Kemi. The new Kemi mill will increase the overall production of CTO and CST by 50,000 tonnes. It will be the most efficient wood-processing mill in the northern hemi- sphere. Apart from pulp, it can produce around four per cent of the pine-based biochemicals needed by global markets.
Research in new biochemicals History was partly the reason for crude tall oil and crude tur- pentine being chosen as the main biochemical products, says Salmenkivi. “These chemicals have been used for decades. At first they were just burned in the recovery boiler to generate energy. Then the end-use market began developing around them and they started to be used as chemical intermediates. As sustainability grew in importance, tall oil and turpentine became increasingly important commercial products,” she says. “Previously, the problem was how to get rid of tall oil and tur- pentine. Now, the challenge is how to produce enough of them.” Some of the new bioproducts are needed to achieve fossil free production at pulp mills. Tall oil pitch, extracted from tall oil, can be used in emergencies as a fossil free supportive fuel in the recovery boiler and lime kiln. The primary fuel for Metsä Fibre’s Kemi bioproduct mill’s lime kilns will be fossil free product gas made by gasifying bark. The company’s Äänekoski and Joutseno mills will also use bark-based product gas to fuel their lime kilns. New solutions created with partners In biochemicals, just as in pulp and sawn timber, Metsä Group supplies the basic raw material. “We do not upgrade the products. Instead, we conclude partner ships with companies that refine biochemicals and thus create jobs and promote sustainability,” says Lagerblom. Some of the partners have joined Metsä Fibre’s industrial ecosystem. One of them is Veolia, which is constructing a bio methanol production unit alongside Äänekoski bioproduct mill.
Leela Landress Perez Global Editor for the Oleochemicals & Pine Chemicals team at Argus Media. She is the founder of Oleo chemicals Analytics, a market research and intel- ligence company that focuses solely on renewable chemicals produced around the world.
Katja Salmenkivi Metsä Fibre’s Sales Director, biochemicals in Wiesbaden. She has a background in chemical engineering and has worked in the forest industry for nearly 25 years.
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