Biofore Magazine 2022

By Winfried Schaur Photography UPM

FEATURE OP INION

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UPM is taking a distinct and proactive role in the quest to develop and, equally important, to scale sustainable alterna tives. We have built innovative platforms over the past decades that are now being taken to market, establishing a new growth platform for UPM and the Biofuels, Biochemicals, Biomedicals and Biocomposites business units. Furthermore, it has led to innovations in the bio-based material field that have resulted in fossil-based product alternatives. In the case of biomedicals, nanocellulose derived from wood pulp is being used for wound care and cell cultivation, for exam ple. This is a novel technology, and we are in the early business stages, but there is tremendous potential to sustainably improve the quality of healthcare.

Meanwhile, our biofuels business pro duces advanced renewable diesel and naphtha for the transport and petrochem ical industries. Lappeenranta is home to the first commercial-scale biorefinery to use crude tall oil, a residue of pulp produc tion, to produce fuels and chemicals. We are working on an investment proposal to scale our advanced biofuel production, fo cusing on a potential second biorefinery in Rotterdam – at the heart of the European petrochemical industry. UPM’s newLeuna biorefinery inGerma ny will mark the beginning of a more sus tainable era for plastics and rubber end-us es. Itwillbetheworld’sfirst industrial-scale biorefinery producing second-generation

Fuelling green growth

This is a novel technology, and we are in the early business stages, but there is tremendous

potential to sustainably improve the quality of healthcare.

Bio-based materials hold tremendous potential to influence solutions and fuel green growth. W e need innovative sustainable solutions now more than ever. The cost and availability of fossil raw materials remain a challenge for the chemi cal industry, while increasing global consump tion is also dramatically driving the use of fossil-based plastics and chemicalmaterials.With the energy transition towards green alternatives being fuelled by the recent price extremes for gas and oil, we must increase our focus on driving the de-fossilisation of thematerial sector.

renewable chemicals. The products will include renewable gly cols, which can replace the highly CO 2 -intensive, oil-based gly cols to produce PET-based packaging, polyester-based textiles or cooling liquids, for example. Plant-basedmonoethylene glycol technology is already being researchedbyCoca-Cola tocreate sustainablebottles, whileper formance chemicals, calledRenewableFunctional Fillers (RFF), canbe used to replace a highly toxicmaterial called carbonblack that is used in shoes, flooring, automotive components and much more. Development of the biorefinery is moving quickly andwe are aiming to start up the production by the end of 2023, as well as continuing to further explore opportunities to scale our biochemicals’ production footprint. Finally, biocomposites – which have been around for several years –will seemorewidespreaduse. Our biocomposites business has developed UPM Formi, which can replace fossil- basedmaterials, especiallypolypropylene, andcanbeused inthe productionof kitchenware, personal care, acoustic devices or 3D printing, for example. All the facets of our renewable materials businesses demon strate our efforts to find new ways to expand further into a new bioeconomy. We are continuing to innovate and broaden our portfolio of sustainable materials, which can contribute to de veloping impactful responses to the ever-important challeng es posed by climate change and our industry’s dependency on fossil rawmaterials. It’s clear to see that our company’s purpose, ‘We create a future beyond fossils’ , remains at the heart of our business and growth strategy.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY AND UPM BIOREFINING