7 M€ funding decision from Business Finland for a plant implementation
Montinutra has been granted a Circular Economy Investment Subsidy by Business Finland for implementing the first-of-a-kind plant to upcycle forest industry side streams. This decision emphasizes the need to speed up the transition towards sustainable renewable materials and reducing the climate impact from fossils.
“This is a great sign of trust to us but also to the future of the Finnish bioeconomy and our capabilities to valorize new raw materials from our forests. Sincere thanks to Business Finland on my behalf. Historically the utilization focus has been in cellulose but the rest of the wood, with over 50% being in the hemicellulose and lignin, has been limited. From these wood components we develop new ingredients for future bioeconomy”, says Jaakko Pajunen, Managing Director of Montinutra.
“Our first ingredients are launched under the brand Boreal Bioproducts® in personal care consumer products already early 2023. This is possible with the production from our current pilot plant in Turku”, completes Antti Kämäräinen, responsible for the commercial development.
Making side streams the main stream
Montinutra’s business model focuses on using side streams such as sawdust, wood processing residues or bark as feedstock. The production process is based on pressurized hot water extraction without the use of chemical solvents. This enables robust and cost-effective production of natural products with minimal environmental burden. As the products will replace fossil-based ingredients, significant CO2 emissions are avoided. These side streams are also available from several sources, not limited to Scandinavian countries for scaling internationally in future, and their current state-of-art utilization is mostly as energy products.
Towards plant implementation with Metsä Group partnership
The subsidy will have a great importance for Montinutra in forming the financing syndicate for the plant envisioned to be commissioned in 2025. The planned location for the plant is at the site of Metsä Fibre’s Vilppula sawmill. Together with Metsä Spring, a corporate venture unit of Metsä Group, and other to-be investors, Montinutra will be forming a financing syndicate for the plant implementation, as also conditioned by the investment subsidy. The total investment evaluated is approximately 20 M€ with up to 35 future employees at the plant. Montinutra will now start the further fundraising, plant pre-engineering, and preparations for the permitting processes.
For More Information
Jaakko Pajunen, Managing director
Jaakko . Pajunen (at) montinutra (dot) com
+ 358 44 34 35 162