Sustainable natural fiber company Spinnova and wood pulp producer Suzano have broken ground on their joint venture smart factory in Finland.
The facility producing Spinnova fiber is the first step toward scaling production volume to 1 million tons annually within 10 years. Spinnova, which works with global brand partners such as H&M Group and Bestseller, and Suzano, a major eucalyptus pulp producer, recently announced a 22 million euro ($26.73 million) investment to build the first commercial-scale Spinnova fiber production facility in Finland. Construction has already started in Jyväskylä, and the sustainable, natural fiber is expected to be available at the end of 2022.
“We have created a modular and flexible technology that is easy to scale and set up around the world,” Spinnova CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen said. “That’s why we can scale according to the pace of demand.
Suzano is ready to increase the volume of Spinnova’s raw material, certified micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC), in line with these plans.
“The first factory is a great start to realizing the vast, global opportunity of this innovation,” Suzano’s new business executive officer, Vinícius Nonino, said. “We believe the Spinnova technology will be highly scalable and we support the ambition to ramp up the production in our joint venture to more than 1 million tons annual volume of Spinnova fiber within 10 years. In the Woodspin joint venture, Spinnova is the exclusive technology provider, while Suzano ensures the supply and quality of MFC. Spinnova has selected Valmet, a global leader in pulp and paper technology, as its partner to supply drying technology for the first Spinnova production line investment in Jyväskylä.”
Jari Vähäpesola, Valmet’s paper business line president, said the company is “excited to be part of this innovative approach to produce sustainable textiles from fiber based raw material.”
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“The fact that we want to support our customers in converting renewable resources into sustainable results and that we are highly focused in R&D, makes us a good technology partner in this project,” Vähäpesola said.
Based in Finland, Spinnova has developed breakthrough technology for making textile fiber out of wood or waste, such as textile or food waste, without harmful chemicals. The patented Spinnova fiber creates zero waste or side streams, uses no microplastics, and involves minimal CO2 emissions and water use.
Valmet is a developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. Its technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production.