Metsä Group's production units annually generate around 12 million tonnes of wood-based carbon dioxide, and the company is increasingly focusing on promoting its large-scale capture.

"Bio-based carbon dioxide is an important but still untapped side stream that could be harnessed more effectively as the technology and markets develop," says Kaija Pehu-Lehtonen, who has been appointed the new project director of Metsä Group's carbon capture project.

If carbon capture proves viable, it will provide the forest industry with a new high-volume wood-based raw material that can be used to replace fossil-based materials.

"We aim to use Nordic wood in a resource-efficient way and make ever greater use of our production side streams to convert wood into increasingly valuable products," says Sari Pajari-Sederholm, EVP, Strategy at Metsä Group.

The first survey exploring what the large-scale carbon capture from the bioproduct mill's flue gases would mean for Metsä Group as a technology and in terms of energy will be completed this autumn.

Next year, Metsä Group will carry out pioneering work by piloting carbon capture at the Rauma pulp mill with ANDRITZ, a technology company.

If implemented, carbon capture would open up opportunities for a significant new chemical industry in Finland and boost the Finnish hydrogen economy.

"For example, renewable hydrogen and wood-based carbon dioxide could be used to produce synthetic methane or methanol for further processing," Pajari-Sederholm says.