Finland's Spinnova & Suzano to finish factory production by 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 company said in a media statement.

The main contractor SRV has proceeded on schedule in the project, led 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. Spinnova has also designed the factory’s energy solutions to ensure a low emission facility that runs on 100 per cent renewable energy and recovered heat energy. In addition, the factory is planned to transfer excess energy back into the district heating network.

“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,” director of strategic projects Ari Borg from Suzano Europe said in a statement.

“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,” Spinnova’s CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)