Finland's UPM invests EUR 1.37 billion to launch a 220,000-tonne biochemical plant in Germany

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 15, Finland's UPM Group officially held the inauguration ceremony for its biorefinery in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The project has a total investment of EUR 1.37 billion and is designed to produce 220,000 tonnes per year of wood-based chemicals, using beech wood and sawmill processing residues as raw materials. Currently, the plant's enzymatic hydrolysis process and lignin-based specialty chemicals production have achieved stable operation, and the company is continuing to increase production load and expand sales of related products.

The wood required by the plant mainly comes from forest tending thinning and sawmilling activities within a radius of about 200 kilometers, with raw materials including beech wood unsuitable for producing construction timber and furniture. The production process treats lignocellulose through enzymatic hydrolysis, separating the raw material into industrial sugars and lignin, which then enter downstream chemical production stages.

Project products include bio-based monoethylene glycol, bio-based monopropylene glycol, lignin-based functional fillers and industrial sugars. Among them, bio-based monoethylene glycol can be used in the production of polyester fibers, PET packaging and industrial coolants, bio-based monopropylene glycol can be used in cosmetics and composite materials, and lignin-based functional fillers are mainly targeted at the manufacturing of tires, seals and other rubber products.

Construction of the project began in October 2020. In 2025, the wood hydrothermal decomposition process was put into operation, and in December of the same year, the production and sale of the first batches of industrial sugars began. Entering 2026, the plant continued to advance the commissioning of subsequent process units. At the time of this inauguration ceremony, enzymatic hydrolysis and lignin-based specialty chemicals production had reached stable operating status, while the overall plant remains in the capacity ramp-up phase.