Metsä Group has confirmed that the new Kemi bioproduct mill and the paperboard mill expansion came into operation as planned on Wednesday, 20 September. The operations will start department by department. Pulp deliveries from the new mill to customers will begin in October 2023.
“Metsä Group’s products replace fossil materials in people’s daily lives. Pulp and paperboard are used as raw materials for numerous consumer goods, and we are able to produce them in Kemi with considerably lower emissions. Finland needs sustainable investment that creates employment, income and a strong belief in the future,” says Ilkka Hämälä, President and CEO, Metsä Group.
“The start-up of the mill is an important milestone for us and now our joint effort towards next milestones continues. I’m looking forward to see how the most significant investment in the history of the Finnish forest industry will achieve its full production capacity,” says Jari-Pekka Johansson, Director of the bioproduct mill project at Metsä Fibre.
The mill features process technology and the most advanced automation systems from Valmet. The delivery includes the wood handling, cooking and fiber line, pulp drying and baling, evaporation, recovery boiler, recausticizing, lime kiln, biomass dryer and gasifier, ash crystallization, mill-wide non-condensable gases (NCG) handling solution, and dry and wet electrostatic precipitators (ESP) for the recovery boiler and lime kiln. Valmet also delivered the sulfuric acid plant which uses the mills own odorous gases to produce sulfuric acid. In addition, Valmet delivered a rebuild of the existing fiber line including new chip feeding and washing systems.
“By combining Valmet’s innovative process technology, automation and services we have delivered a solution representing leading sustainability performance with minimized emissions. As an example, energy efficiency is improved with steam integration between evaporation and digester, and with new pulp drying features. The advanced mill-wide automation system and integrated industrial internet applications help to optimize the mill’s production efficiency,” says Sami Riekkola, Pulp and Energy Business Line President, Valmet.
