The first year of the Kemi bioproduct mill

The Kemi bioproduct mill, Metsä Fibre’s largest ever investment, began operating in September 2023. The mill is completely fossil fuel-free and a front runner in environmental, energy and material efficiency. In addition to pulp, the mill produces various kinds of bioproducts and also functions as a platform for the manufacture of new fibre products that are still under development.

According to Metsä Fibre’s CEO Ismo Nousiainen, responsibility and sustainable solutions played a big role during the mill’s planning phase.

“Our customers need increasingly sustainable delivery chains to gain competitive advantages, and we want to support this development.”

The Kemi bioproduct mill has been built using Best Available Techniques (BAT) and partly with more advanced BAT+ techniques.

Examples of the mill’s modern solutions include electric woodyard cranes that unload wood from trains and lorries autonomously with the help of AI and machine vision. The mill’s wastewater is treated in a three-step process. As a result, wastewater emissions are significantly lower than the limit in the environmental licence for the old Kemi pulp mill despite the new mill’s higher production capacity.

Two thirds of the raw wood used by the mill is transported by electric trains, which reduces the carbon dioxide emissions of wood supply. Metsä Fibre is also aiming to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions created by lorries transporting wood products by 30 per cent by 2030.

The start-up phase calls for team effort

According to Pekka Kittilä, Mill Manager at the Kemi bioproduct mill, the planning, building and commissioning of the bioproduct mill has been a unique project.

“After a successful start, our goal has been to increase the efficiency of the mill, achieve stable production and ensure the quality of the produced pulp.”

Kittilä says that the first year of operation has been marked by learning new things and efficient teamwork.

“When you are fine-tuning a process and increasing production efficiency, the competence of and teamwork between your employees and equipment suppliers play an important role. We have an incredibly skilled and professional staff with strong process know-how from the former mill. In addition, we can use the knowledge of experts at our other production mills.”

Kittilä also thinks that having been able to keep the quality and purity of the pulp on a good level is a significant success.

Explosion cut back on deliveries

In March 2024, during the start-up phase of the mill, there was a gas explosion at the evaporation plant in connection with welding work. The explosion caused large-scale material damage, and three people were mildly exposed to hydrogen sulphide gas.

“The explosion was an unfortunate accident. The most important thing is that we avoided casualties. However, we had to cut back on some agreed pulp deliveries. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers once again for their understanding and patience,” says Nousiainen.

According to Kittilä, the production interruption caused by the explosion was used to perform all required annual maintenance tasks at the mill.

The repair work was completed safely and on time, and the mill resumed operations in June 2024. Metsä Fibre is replacing all evaporation plant units in connection with the maintenance shutdown in summer 2025, but this will not impact customer deliveries.

Reaching full operational capacity

The mill should reach its full production output capacity by the end of 2024. When operating at full capacity, the mill will produce 1,000,000 tonnes of bleached softwood pulp, 300,000 tonnes of bleached birch pulp and 200,000 tonnes of unbleached softwood pulp each year.

“Our starting point for the second year of operation is very good. Our goal is to achieve full capacity and optimise the mill’s operations so that our environmental load is minimised and product quality remains high,” says Kittilä.

As the global supply of softwood pulp is decreasing, investments like Kemi are key to helping Metsä Fibre’s customers grow their businesses.

“Our strategic goal is to strengthen our position in the North American markets, and the production volume in Kemi will play a key part in achieving this goal,” says Nousiainen.

The industrial ecosystem being built around the mill will also make it possible to launch new bioproducts.

“For example, we already have textile fibre and lignin product demo plants in Äänekoski. In the future, any potential industrial-scale plants could well be located in Kemi,” says Nousiainen.