Södra Cell Värö pulp mill in Sweden to ditch fossil fuels by 2012

VÄXJÖ, Sweden, May 28, 2008 (Press Release) - By 2012 Södra Cell Värö will probably be the world's first pulp mill to be independent of fossil fuels for day-to-day operation. Thanks to an SEK 500 million investment package announced earlier this year, the Swedish mill will derive all its routine energy requirements from timber-based biofuel. The company also believes this will be a first for all process industries (including chemicals, steel, coal, pulp and paper, and glass).

The landmark project, due to start up in 2010, includes a new evaporation plant (a key part of the pulp mill's recovery process) and a bark dryer. The project will minimise the need for bark combustion in the process and enable surplus bark to be processed to a high-value biofuel while also cutting out the mill's demand for heating oil in all but exceptional circumstances, such as a startup. For day-to-day operation, the mill's bark boiler will be redundant.

Once up running, the new plant's annual deliveries of surplus bark are expected to have an energy value equivalent to 200 GWh, the equivalent energy required to heat 10,000 homes. Total reduction of fossil carbon dioxide will be 75,000 tonnes per year.

"We started on the road to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels during the last oil price spike, so we were already in a strong position to become a biofuel-only operation," said Gunilla Saltin, president of Södra Cell and former mill manager at Värö. "Energy efficiency is an absolute priority for us, from an environmental and commercial point of view. It is also very satisfying that the timber which enters the mill can provide all the energy for its own processing. This is a source of pride for us at Södra, but also very encouraging for the industry as a whole."

Södra is also working on energy projects at its other mills, including investments in the recovery boiler and post-screening at Södra Cell Mönsterås at a cost of some SEK 90 million.