#Recycling / Circular Economy

2021-12-02

Spinnova-Suzano factory construction makes headway as planned in Finland

Woodspin, the joint venture of the sustainable textile material company Spinnova and its strategic partner, pulp company Suzano, is proceeding with its factory project in Central Finland according to the original schedule. The production spaces are expected to be ready for technology installations at the end of next summer, and for the factory to be completed by end of 2022.

On the south side of Jyväskylä in Central Finland, one can already see the Woodspin factory complex take shape. The facility is the first commercial factory of Woodspin, a joint venture between Spinnova and Suzano, and a start to what will be some million tonnes of annual global volume of SPINNOVA® fibre capacity within 10-12 years.

The main contractor SRV has proceeded on schedule in the project, lead by local real-estate developer Jykia. The production spaces for manufacturing the highly sustainable SPINNOVA® fibre are estimated to be ready for technology installations at the end of summer of 2022, and for the factory to be completed by end of 2022.

The factory complex will include Spinnova’s and Suzano’s joint venture Woodspin’s fibre production, Suzano Finland’s micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) refining, as well as Spinnova’s headquarters and some of its product development functions.

For Suzano, the MFC refining investment is the company’s first ever investment outside of Brazil. ?- Building an MFC facility next to the Woodspin factory is a very important milestone for us. We at Suzano believe in Spinnova’s technology that is the cornerstone of Woodspin, comments Director of Strategic Projects Ari Borg from Suzano Europe.

- The pulp is shipped to Finland in sheets, which mitigates the climate footprint of the logistics. Integrating the raw material refining into the fibre process is the most cost and energy efficient and climate friendly solution, adds Spinnova’s CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen.

Spinnova has also designed the factory’s energy solutions to ensure a low emission facility that runs on 100% renewable energy and recovered heat energy. In addition, the factory is planned to transfer excess energy back into the district heating network. ?- The only side stream of our process is evaporated water that is fed back into the process for the most part. Thanks to our clean production method, we don’t need an environmental permit, reminds Poranen.

The investment also brings both direct and indirect employment to the area. Besides the main contractor SRV, the project members are e.g. Arkkitehtipalvelu Oy on architecture, Vahanen Jyväskylä Oy on structural design and Elomatic Oy on heating, ventilation and air conditioning design.

Preparing for the SPINNOVA® technology delivery of the new factory is also proceeding as planned. Spinnova will communicate more on that in early 2022.

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