UPM Lappeenranta biorefinery marks five years of operation

Type of post: NEWS.

The UPM Lappeenranta biorefinery started commercial production in Lappeenranta (Finland) five years ago. The facility uses crude tall oil (byproduct from pulp and paper manufacturing) to produce through hydrotreatment renewable fuels that decrease emissions and mitigate climate change.

Press release: “Five years at the forefront of biofuel development”, 13/1/2020.

Related posts:

- “UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery”, 26/2/2015.

- “The Environmental Impact Assessment for the biorefinery project of UPM in Kotka is completed”, 12/10/2018.

Figure 1. UPM Lappeenranta biorefinery marks five years of operation (extracted from the press release)

UPM built the biorefinery, which cost 179 M€, without any public investment subsidies. The construction started in summer 2012 and the foundation stone was laid in November of the same year. The works employed nearly 200 people for approximately two years and now UPM Biofuels employs 100 people directly and around 150 people. Today, the facility produces approximately 160 million litres of renewable biofuels and chemicals each year. Those chemicals replace fossil-based raw materials in various plastics and adhesives used, for example, in packaging and construction materials.

The greenhouse gas emissions of UPM BioVerno diesel are over 80% lower than those of fossil-based diesel fuels. When used to produce plastics, 1 ton of UPM BioVerno naphtha saves about 3 tons of CO₂ compared to use of fossil-based raw materials. According to the press release, the annual production of the UPM Lappeenranta biorefinery reduces the yearly GHG emissions equivalent of roughly 150,000 cars on average.