The industrial scale biorefinery is said to have a total production capacity of 150,000 tpy of wood-based chemical intermediates as well as lignin.
Finlands UPM Kymmene is mulling the construction of a new biorefinery and has picked the Industrial Park in Frankfurt-Höchst in Germany as the potential site for the project. According to UPM, this anouncement follows more than five years of extensive technology development and piloting. Now the company will accomplish a detailed commercial and basic engineering study over the next 12 months to verify the attractiveness of the business case.
Should all preparation phases be concluded successfully, then the standard procedure of analysing and preparing an investment decision would be initiated, UPM said.
The industrial scale biorefinery near Frankfurt would produce wood-based chemical intermediates such as bio-monoethylene glycol (bMEG) and bio-monopropylene glycol (bMPG) and will also produce lignin. The total capacity amounts to 150,000 tpy.
"Application areas for bio-monoethylene glycol include textiles, bottles, packaging and deicing fluids. Bio-monopropylene glycol is used for example in composites, pharma and cosmetics or detergents. Lignin can be used for example in wood resins, plastics or foams and coatings," UPM explained.
Industriepark Höchst has attracted some of the most renowned global chemical, pharmaceutical, medical and bioscience companies such as Clariant, Celanese, Akzo Nobel, Bayer, Evonik, Cargill, GE or Siemens.
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