Itochu Corporation and Metsä Spring partner to build a textile fibre demo plant

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Metsä Spring Ltd. (Metsä Group’s innovation company) and Japanese Itochu Corporation have created a joint venture to build and operate a test plant where they will demonstrate a new technology for converting paper-grade pulp into textile fibres (see press release, 1/10/2018). This demo plant is the first investment of Metsä Spring, established in May 2018 with the target to identify and develop new business opportunities within the sustainable forest-based bioeconomy and circular economy. Business Finland (a Finnish governmental funding agency) participates in the financing of the project with an R&D loan.

Location
Next to Metsä Group’s bioproduct mill in Äänekoski (Finland).
Feedstock
Metsä Group’s wet paper-grade pulp.
Product
Textile fibres.
Capacity
500 tons/year.
Technology
Based on direct dissolution using a novel solvent for the pulp dissolution stage.
General engineering partner
Sweco.
Cost
40 M€.
Timeline
Construction beginning: October 2018.
Start-up: Late 2019.

Figure 1. Itochu Corporation and Metsä Spring partner to build a textile fibre demo plant (extracted from the press release)

The new technology is estimated to be more environmentally-friendly than the textile fibre production technologies currently in use. Its basis has been developed in joint research programmes since 2009. The main collaborators, in terms of development of the technology, include Aalto University, University of Helsinki, VTT and TITK. Metsä Group’s own active development work started in 2012.

Based on the results achieved in the plant, they evaluate the technical and economic options of building a larger facility in Finland in the future. During the demo stage, which is expected to last two to three years from the start-up of the plant, they will also gather customer feedback related to the new fibres.

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