UPM advances German biorefinery project with logistics deal

Helsinki – UPM Biochemicals has reached an agreement with German national rail service Deutsche Bahn for the supply of wood feedstock to its biorefinery in Leuna, Germany.

In partnership with DB Cargo, irst deliveries of wood have now been made to Leuna by rail, establishing and testing the direct rail link to the operation, UPM reported 14 March.

According to UPM, the company has now increased its investment from an initial €550 million to €1.2 billion in the new large-scale biorefinery.

The facility is designed to transform wood-based biomass into a range of chemicals and materials, including functional fillers for rubber applications.

The 220 kilotonne-per-annum facility in Leuna, Germany was initially scheduled for start-up at the end of 2022, with ramp-up scheduled for 2023.

In its latest announcement, UPM said that wood-handling and processing activities had started as part of the commissioning and start-up work for the biorefinery.

The first wood chips based on feedstock from “sustainably managed regional forests” have been produced, confirming the overall progress made on-site, it added.

DB Cargo, according to UPM, is a specialist in “sustainable and climate-friendlier transport of goods” and is “a long-standing partner for timber transportation in the rail sector”.

The logistics company has also been handling UPM’s paper and pulp freight for the past several years.

The partnership, it continued, will enable sustainable transport of wood to UPM’s refinery, while strengthening local supply-chains and security-of-supply.

Welcoming the first rail-based wood transports to Leuna, Andreas Meggendorfer, director supply chain & sourcing at UPM Biochemicals, said the move will optimise the environmental footprint of UPM’s products.

“We can now rely on a well-known and capable rail logistics partner and have built a resilient and sustainable wood logistics setup for our biorefinery in Leuna,” Meggendorfer concluded.