One of the world’s most advanced machine companies will build the world’s largest kraft lignin mill after Södra selected Andritz to construct the massive mill on the grounds of Mönsterås – its largest pulp mill – in Sweden.
It comes after Wood Central last week revealed that the new plant – built adjacent to the world’s first bioethanol plant, is now a key part of Södra’s plans to develop a suite of new, fully circular products – using discarded pulp waste to make the next generation of glue, batteries, rubber, composites and form the basis for new biofuels and biostimulators.
Based on Andritz’s LignaRec lignin recovery process, it involves a drying section equipped with flash dryer technology; here, the kraft lignin will be processed further to optimise product quality. Södra will then sell the lignin as a product, with the scope of supply expected to support systems that will benefit the mill’s environmental performance and fully integrate lignin recovery into existing operations.
“This investment means much for Södra and our kraft pulp mill in Mönsterås. We will make more out of every tree and strengthen our profitability. This is a big investment for Södra and the green transition,” according to Karin Dernegård, Mill Manager at Södra Cell Mönsterås.
Södra’s Mönsterås mill already features an Andritz Kraftanol biomethanol plant, the ‘first of its kind in the world’ to convert byproducts of pulp production into purified biomethanol.
“We are very pleased that Södra has once again placed its trust in us to implement a first-of-its-kind solution that supports the green transition and, at the same time, opens up new business opportunities,” said Joachim Schönbeck, president and CEO of ANDRITZ.
Why the world’s top forest producers invest in material science
Last week, Wood Central reported that the push to extract more value from every piece of wood comes as harvested timber volumes are declining across Europe.
Value-enhancing the use of the primary components of wood, “Lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose”, is the key to future growth”, according to Duncan Mayes, the founder and principal of Helsinki-based Lignutech Oy, who said that Finland, and neighbour Sweden, are well positioned to capitalise on the green switch.
“These countries have always been a tradition of multi-sector integration, with the big forest companies having pulp mills, paper mills, board mills, sawmills and most recently mass timber plants combined in an industrial eco-system,” he said, adding, “These are highly integrated companies.”
This includes Södra, Sweden’s largest forest owners’ association. With 53,000 individual forest owners covering 2.8 million hectares, the average member has a forest plot of just 50 hectares. PEFC and FSC-certified, “the key for Södra is not to take more from harvest but improve recovery and add value to the forests harvested,” according to Lotta Lyrå, Södra’s CEO and President.
- To learn more about how Södra and other forest giants are using material science to build the next generation of products out of wood, visit Wood Central’s special feature.
