Metsä Kemi

World-class bioproduct mill, Metsä Fibre Kemi, Finland

Metsä Fibre's new bioproduct mill responds to the demand of products made of renewable energy

AFRY contributed significantly to the bioproduct mill project, which is the largest investment in the forest industry in Finland. Services included multidisciplinary engineering and project management services from the early study and pre-engineering phases to detail engineering and construction phase.

Pulp-based products are part of people’s everyday lives. The demand for Nordic softwood pulp continues to grow globally. The growth in demand is driven by megatrends like replacing products made of fossil-based raw materials with wood-based products, discontinuing the use of fossil fuels, and increasing the production of renewable energy.

To respond to this demand, Metsä Fibre Oy built the new bioproduct mill. In Metsä Fibre’s concept, the renewable wood raw material and production side streams are used in full as different bioproducts, thus replacing fossil-based materials and fossil fuels. The value of the investment is EUR 1.6 billion and the construction phase was completed in October 2023.

The Kemi bioproduct mill will produce some 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp per year, as well as many other bioproducts. It will also produce 2.0 TWh of renewable electricity per year. The planning of the new bioproduct mill was based on a high degree of environmental, energy, and material efficiency. The bioproduct mill was built using the best available technology (BAT). The technological level meets and even exceeds the EU BREF requirements. Despite the clearly increased production compared with the current Kemi pulp mill, the new bioproduct mill will stay below the emission limits of the current environmental permit of the existing mill.

Good engineering work is key when building this kind of new and modern bioproduct mill. AFRY has been an important partner for us, and together with other main partners we have managed to run the project on schedule and start the mill as planned.

Jari-Pekka Johansson, Director of the bioproduct mill project at Metsä Fibre.

We are proud that we have been part of this project that contributes to job creation, economic stability, and an improved environmental footprint. The longstanding partnership between Metsä and AFRY spans several decades and the good collaboration with Metsä Fibre and all project partners has played a pivotal role in making this project a success.

Nicholas Oksanen, EVP and Head of Process Industries at AFRY

The project came into operation as planned in September 2023. AFRY delivered project management services for the whole mill, detailed engineering services for all engineering disciplines for Balance of Plant (BOP), and the digitalisation services of the mill with BIM (Building Information Modelling) and PIM (Process Information Modelling) of the project including the establishment of SSOT (Single-Source-of-Truth) concept towards digital twin. AFRY also provided project management, engineering and site services of the chlorine dioxide plant as well as delivered tall oil plant as EPC delivery.

Kemi bioproduct mill can now utilise the single-source-of-truth digital platform in their daily operations by integrating all operational data (OT) including e.g. maintenance and production data to existing engineering data (ET).

Project facts

Project type: A new bioproduct mill

Client name: Metsä Fibre Oy

Project location: Kemi, Finland

AFRY Scope of Services delivered:

  • Project management services
  • Detail engineering services
  • Digitalisation services
  • Site services
  • Architecture design
  • Chlorine dioxide plant design, project and site services
  • EPC delivery of the tall oil plant
Metsä Group Kemi biotuotetehdas havainne small
Metsä Fibre Kemi bioproduct mill: Focus on safety, high environmental efficiency, totally fossil-free operations, and 250 percent self-sufficiency in electricity. Image: Metsä Group
Sustainability in Kemi bioproduct mill project:
  • 100% utilization of wood raw material
  • 250% self-sufficiency in electricity
  • Wood sourced mainly from Finland
  • Totally fossil-free operations
  • High environmental efficiency with optimized processes
  • Employs 250 people directly at the mill site and 2,500 people in the direct value chain in Finland