Metsä Spring, the innovation company of Metsä Group, has been elected as one of six nominees for the ‘Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year 2021’ award. The award is focused on new developments within the cellulose fibre industry and the award applicants can present either a new technology or a new application within this industry.
Metsä Spring was nominated to the group of six on the merits of the novel ‘paper-grade pulp to textile fibre’ production process, which is currently in demonstration phase. Metsä Group initiated a R&D programme related to the topic of wood-based textile fibres in 2012. The decision to invest in a demo plant, together with ITOCHU Corporation, was made in October 2018. The budget of the demonstration phase, included the greenfield demo plant in Äänekoski, Finland, is EUR 40 million.
“Having reached this stage of the development project wouldn’t have been possible without the significant input of several partners ranging from universities to industrial companies. This project has shown us very clearly the value of co-creation and partnerships”, says Niklas von Weymarn, CEO of Metsä Spring and one of the persons who has been part of the R&D programme since 2012.
“We are now proceeding with the challenging demonstration phase and try, with the help of the demo plant and market feedback, to assess the feasibility of the new concept in regard to entering one day the actual commercial phase”, continues von Weymarn.
For further information please contact: Niklas von Weymarn, CEO, Metsä Spring Ltd, tel. +358 40 547 6977