State-of-the-art Greenfield Pulp Mill, UPM Uruguay

UPM greenfield eucalyptus pulp in Uruguay.

UPM has built a 2,1 million tonne greenfield eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de Los Toros in central Uruguay. AFRY’s services for the project development were started a few years before the investment decision was made in July 2019 by UPM.

UPM built a 2,1 million tonne greenfield eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de los Toros in central Uruguay. The safety and sustainability performance of the value chain from plantations to customer delivery is expected to be on an industry-leading level.

The pulp mill has been designed as an efficient single-line operation and represents the state-of-the-art in the pulp industry. The machines, materials, level of automation, and standards enable a high operating rate and maintainability as well as high energy output, ensuring excellent safety, high environmental performance as well as low operating costs during the long life-cycle of the mill.

The mill is designed to fully meet the strict Uruguayan environmental regulations as well as international standards and recommendations for modern mills, including the use of the latest and best available proven technology (BAT). Mill’s environmental performance will be verified with comprehensive and transparent monitoring. When in operation, the mill generates more than a 110 MW surplus of renewable electricity providing a stable source of revenue and strengthening Uruguay´s energy balance.

Project facts:

Project name: State-of-the-art eucalyptus greenfield pulp mill
Client name: UPM-Kymmene Oyj (UPM)
Project location: Paso de los Toros, Uruguay

UPM investment key figures:

Pulp mill investment of USD 2.7 billion
Production capacity 2.1 million tonnes of eucalyptus pulp
Generates more than 110 MW surplus of renewable electricity
Over 6,000 people will be working on the mill site in the peak construction period

Image source: UPM

We are honoured to be UPM’s partner in this strategically important investment for the future, designed to meet the highest level of sustainability in environmental and safety including Smart Site digitalisation in mill operations. Our global competence combined with local experience and presence in South America is the foundation for the added value to UPM

Nicholas Oksanen, Executive Vice President and Head of Process Industries at AFRY