Progress in use of captured CO2 expected soon
At a Metsä Group mill, the utilization of carbon dioxide captured with test equipment will soon be studied.
In the summer of 2025, Metsä Group will test the capture of carbon dioxide at their Rauma pulp mill, together with the Andritz technology company.
Test equipment from Andritz will be brought to the Rauma pulp mill, says Kaija Pehu-Lehtonen, project director of Metsä Group’s carbon capture project, to forest.fi.
’They have a mobile testing equipment, which will be brought to the mill and set up there. The equipment will be in operation for several months to find out, for example, whether the flue gases from the mill need scrubbing and what the final product is like,’ Pehu-Lehtonen explains.
The pilot phase could be followed by the planning of a pilot plant.
’The pilot plant would be an industrial-scale plant to capture carbon dioxide, though not a full-scale one,’ she explains.
Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) has rapidly become one of the spearheads of climate policy Both in Finland ans elsewhere. So far in 2024, about 15 projects related to this have been announced in Finland.
The annual amount of bio-based carbon dioxide generated in Finland is about 30 million tonnes. Carbon dioxide from pulp mills is a valuable sidestream, little utilized so far. It could be captured and utilized as a raw material to replace fossil materials and fuels.
Carbon dioxide can be processed into fuels, plastics and raw materials for fertilizers, or mixed with concrete.
Metsä Group describes CO2 capture as a ’significant act for the climate’.
Report on CO2 capture
Earlier this autumn, Metsä Group and Andritz completed a report on the capture of four million tonnes of CO2 from the flue gases of the newly inaugurated Kemi bioproduct mill.
According to the report, the capture is technically possible, but will require sizeable investments in recovery technology. The market also needs to develop before Metsä Group can assess whether profitable business is feasible.
20 percent of the heat required for CO2 capture is available from the current heat flows at the bioproduct mill. The rest will require new kinds of technological solutions.
’20 percent of the heat required for CO2 capture is available from the current heat flows at the bioproduct mill. The rest will require new kinds of technological solutions,’ says Pehu-Lehtonen.
Sizeable potential involved in CO2 capture
If and when carbon capture is successful, it will open up opportunities for a large-scale industry.
’CO2 capture gives Finland a significant potential to generate new industrial activity,’ says Pehu-Lehtonen.
Interviewed by the Tekniikan Maailma magazine last year, Research Director Petteri Laaksonen at the LUT university said that the CO2 emissions from Finnish mills would be enough to produce all fuel used in Finland ’plus the same amount for export’.
As an example, almost all of the two million tonnes of jet fuel used to refuel Finnair planes at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport could be produced from the carbon dioxide from one pulp mill.
’As an example, almost all of the two million tonnes of jet fuel used to refuel Finnair planes at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport could be produced from the carbon dioxide from one pulp mill,’ Laaksonen said to Tekniikan Maailma.
Carbon capture also has a political dimension. According to Audiomedia, forest researchers have criticized Finnish climate policy for ineffectiveness. It relies too heavily on forest carbon sinks, which are deteriorating, and does not invest enough in carbon capture,in discontinuing the use of fossil raw materials nor in renewable energy.
Read more: Forest company plans to process carbon dioxide from mills into bio products
