UPM advances rubber bio-additives plan with ‘first wood delivery’

Helsinki – Finnish forest industry company UPM has progressed its biorefinery in Leuna, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany with the first delivery of wood from “sustainably managed regional forests.”

The delivery, UPM announced 22 Nov, is “both a symbolic first and an important practical step”, enabling the company to begin testing its wood handling and processing activities.

UPM’s €550-million, 200 kilotonne-per-annum biorefinery will manufacture bio-mono ethylene glycol UPM BioPura as well as UPM BioMotion renewable functional fillers for the rubber and plastics industry.

Sourced from hardwood, the fillers are billed as ‘a truly sustainable alternative’ to fossil-based carbon black and precipitated silica.

UPM was initially set to start production at the plant by the end of 2022, with ramp-up scheduled for 2023.

In its latest announcement, however, UPM said the commissioning and start-up were scheduled for next year, but did not provide an exact date.

“The concrete foundations have been poured, and the first buildings are rising from the ground.

"The huge pipe rack that will bear the grid for utilities, for example, has been constructed,” it said.

UPM said the wood delivery underlined the progress on-site, while enabling it to establish “reliable supply chains and processes” for future wood-sourcing operations and logistics chains.