Metsä Group has started up a demonstration plant for a new lignin-based product at its bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, Finland.
The facility marks a new step in the group’s efforts to generate higher value from pulp production side streams.
The demo plant uses lignin separated during the pulping process as its raw material and has a nameplate capacity of two tonnes per day. The product, marketed as Metsä LigO™, is being developed in cooperation with technology supplier ANDRITZ, with Dow acting as a key development partner.
In conventional pulp production, lignin is typically recovered and used as bioenergy. Metsä Group sees broader potential. The company aims to use lignin in applications where it can replace fossil-based or other non-renewable raw materials.
The purpose of the demo plant is to validate the production process and assess the technical and market suitability of the product. If the results meet expectations, Metsä Group says the next step would be the design—and possible construction—of a full-scale production facility.
Dow is collaborating with Metsä Group and ANDRITZ to develop bio-based plasticisers for concrete and gypsum applications using modified lignin produced at the Äänekoski site. The partners say the work will help verify the performance of lignin-based additives under conditions relevant to commercial construction markets.
The three companies have previously worked together in an EU-funded research and development project coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, where the technology was tested at pilot scale. That work demonstrated that lignin-based products could replace fossil-derived chemicals in concrete and gypsum board manufacturing.
The Äänekoski bioproduct mill already produces several industrial by-products, including bark, tall oil, turpentine, electricity and heat, as well as sulphuric acid, product gas, biogas and methanol. The site also hosts demo plants for the Kuura textile fibre and Muoto fibre-based packaging. Elsewhere in the group, pilot-scale carbon capture testing has recently been completed at the Rauma pulp mill.
Owned by Metsäliitto Cooperative and its roughly 90,000 Finnish forest owner members, Metsä Group operates across pulp, paperboard, tissue, wood products and forest services, with a stated focus on renewable materials and regenerative forestry.
Source: Metsä Group
