Stora Enso and the leading Nordic producer of household products Orthex bring to the market a new range of kitchen utensils made from a new biocomposite which combines the best qualities of wood and plastic. The bio-based material used to replace fossil-based plastic is made from spruce and sugarcane, which – according to both companies – reduces the carbon footprint of the products by up to 80%. The innovative products contain 98% bio-based material.
Scandinavian multinational company Stora Enso opened Europe’s largest wood fibre-based biocomposite plant. The opening ceremony took place last June 4 at the company’s Hylte Mill outside of Halmstad in South-west Sweden, and was attended by more than 150 guests. Stora Enso’s investment of €12 million in a biocomposite plant is part of the company’s ongoing process of becoming a renewable materials company. It aims at showing that Stora Enso is a leader in the bioeconomy, with the ability to provide innovative, more sustainable alternatives to plastic.
Stora Enso launched bio-based lignin as renewable replacement for oil-based phenolic materials. Lignin is one of the main building blocks of a tree and makes up 20-30% of the composition of wood. Yet it has traditionally been discarded by the pulp and paper industries. However, Stora Enso has recognised the potential of this versatile raw material, which can be used in a range of applications where fossil-based materials are currently used.
Elopak, an international supplier of paper based packaging solutions for liquid food, based in Norway and wholly owned by the Ferd Group, and Stora Enso has launched the first gable top carton made from natural brown unbleached paperboard, creating the Naturally Pure-Pak® carton with a highly distinctive, natural look and feel.
Scandinavian company Stora Enso is investing 12 million euro to build a new production line that will manufacture biocomposite granules at Hylte Mill in Sweden. Biocomposite granules enable the use of renewable wood to substitute a large portion of the fossil-based materials in products typically produced in plastics. Production is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2018. The annual capacity will be approximately 15 000 tonnes per year. The ramp-up of the new production line and a new type of manufacturing is expected to take 2–3 years.
“With equivalent performance and equivalent costs we anticipate that the industry will migrate to widespread adoption of these bio-based products over time (similar to previous industry shifts to more competitive petro-derived processes)”. To say it, in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista, is Tim Dummer, VP Commercialization at Rennovia, a specialty chemical company focused on the creation of novel processes for the cost advantaged production of chemicals from renewable feedstocks. Rennovia led by Robert Wedinger and based in Santa Clara, California, is developing processes for the production of biobased glucaric acid, adipic acid, 1,6-hexanediol, hexamethylenediamine (HMD), and other important building blocks for a wide range of functional materials. With Dummer we talk about Rennovia and the future of the chemical industry.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Renewable materials company Stora Enso and specialty chemicals company Rennovia have announced a joint development and license agreement to cooperate on bio-based chemicals development.
Stora Enso, the Northern European leading provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wood and paper on global markets, is investing a total of approximately 63 million euro to further improve competitiveness in strategic growth areas in China and Sweden in the Consumer Board and Biomaterials divisions. The Nordic company will invest 31 million euro in a new polyethylene (PE) coating line in the new consumer board mill in Beihai, China. The Beihai Mill is expected to be in operation during the second quarter of 2016, as communicated earlier. The investment will enhance Stora Enso’s strategy for profitable growth and supports competitiveness by enabling short lead-times and full quality control for PE-coated prime Food Service Board (FSB). The investment is expected to be completed in mid-2017.
Another important step on the road to Stora Enso’s transformation into a renewable materials company. The pulp and paper manufacturer headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, inaugurated yesterday the new Innovation Centre for biomaterials in Stockholm, that will host research, application, business development and strategic marketing under one roof.
Stora Enso, the Finnish pulp and paper manufacturer, will concentrate its new biomaterials business development in an Innovation Centre that will be located in the Stockholm area in Sweden. The centre, which will open during the second quarter of 2015, will host research, application, business development, and strategic marketing. The centre will boost innovation by identifying business opportunities in the renewable materials market and linking them with leading innovation and research centres in business and academia. It will be staffed with Stora Enso employees currently working in Sweden, Finland and Germany. It will initially employ a little less than 60 people and is estimated to employ around 75 people by year end 2015. Stora Enso’s other R&D units are not affected by this change and will remain in their current locations.
