/ Products and Services / Biochemicals / Metsä Crude Tall Oil (CTO)

Metsä Crude Tall Oil (CTO)

Metsä Crude Tall Oil (CTO)

Metsä Crude Tall Oil (CTO)

We are one of the world’s leading producers of wood-based biochemicals. We manufacture Metsä Crude Tall Oil (CTO) from the best quality Nordic pine and spruce. This renewable material, which replaces fossil-based materials and fossil fuels, can be used in a wide range of end use applications and industrial processes.

Our CTO is produced responsibly and sustainably at all of Metsä Fibre’s pulp mills (Joutseno and Rauma) and bioproduct mills (Äänekoski and Kemi) in Finland and at Metsä Board’s mill in Sweden (Husum). Produced from traceable Nordic pine and spruce, and having outstanding product characteristics, customers around the world use our CTO in their own manufacture. At Metsä Fibre, we develop our products in close cooperation with our customers to meet their requirements for end product characteristics and properties.

In the course of our pulp production, we yield CTO as a bioproduct from a side reaction of wood chips and hot solvents. This yellow-black odorous liquid raw material can be further processed into a variety of fractions. Our customers divide Metsä CTO into four distinct components for use in different industries and end use applications:

  1. Tall oil fatty acids (TOFA)
  2. Rosins
  3. Sterols
  4. Pitch oil and its derivates

Metsä CTO is typically used as a raw material in the production of adhesives, rubbers, paints, inks and biofuels. It is also used as a binder agent in cement and asphalt, and even in animal feed.

Typical end uses of crude tall oil (CTO):

- Concrete

- Fuel

- Lubricants

- Asphalt

- Paints

- Car tyres

- Adhesives

- Printing ink

- Paper and board coatings

- Tapes and adhesives for stickers

- Margarine (emulsifiers)

- Animal feed

- Detergents and cleaners

- Soap

CTO is a renewable component and has remarkably low carbon emissions. In contrast to many other bio-based raw materials, trees do not require separate land area or take agricultural land away from food production. Forests and wood-based products have the unique ability to bind and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which makes wood-based CTO a competitive sustainable alternative in the biochemical industry. Due to its ability to replace the fossil-based materials in many manufacturing processes, our CTO has great potential.

By sustainable forest management and responsible production, Metsä Fibre uses wood raw material resources in a sustainable way. We contribute to the European Union’s circular economy goals, as well as to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

Documents