Iggesund Paperboard has been investing heavily in energy supply and in carbon-neutral energy at its two mills in Sweden and in the UK. In Sweden, Iggesund Paperboard has started up the new recovery boiler of its Swedish Iggesund Bruk plant on the morning of 12 June. According to the company, the investment that amounted to €240m was so far the biggest in the history of the cartonboard mill.
The recovery boiler is the heart of the sulphate pulp mill that manufactures the pulp for the cartonboard of the Invercote brand. The boiler is built to withstand higher pressure than any other recovery boiler in Europe, Iggesund said in a statement. Moreover, a new steam turbine will supply 520 GWh/year. In the longer term Iggesund Bruk is supposed to be completely self-sufficient in electricity. The mill has a production capacity of 330,000 tpy of virgin-fibre board.
At the same time, Iggesund is implementing another modernisation project at its British plant in Workington. Here, the company is installing a biomass power plant that will eventually replace the CHP plant that currently supplies the mill with electricity and steam.
The biofuel boiler in Workington is an investment of roughly €123m, it is to produce about 150 MW of thermal energy and 50 MW of electricity. Workington is self-sufficient in terms of electricity and will be using 100 % renewable energy as of March 2013 when the new boiler is to start up.
The biopower plant will be fuelled with a woody biomass mix made up of forest residues, roundwood, sawmill residues and also energy crops. In collaboration with local farmers, Iggesund plans to grow willow as an energy crop that is eventually to make up about 10 % of the fuel mix. Altogether, the new plant will require roughly 500,000 t of biomass per year.
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