The Straw-Ethanol Factory

The CEO Aate Laukkanen has a 20-year experience in ethanol manufacturing as well as the relevant license. The license includes also the contemplated straw-ethanol plant.

The Myllykoski former paper mill is an excellent platform for the project as the site includes an ideal bio power plant, waste water treatment facility and necessary buildings.

Based on the feasiblity analysis designed for the company, the production of the bio mass ethanol is technically functioning and economically feasible. The intended technology is new, but there are close to ten technology suppliers in the market.

The contemplated plant will manufacture the ethanol out of mainly domestic straw and the annual demand is ca 330 000 t. The typical feasible harvesting range is 100-200 km from the plant. Sizeable part of the straw will be procured from the Kouvola region. The specialist organisation ProAgria has in their study 2014 identified that adequate amount of the raw material can be procured to a feasible price. In order to manage the weather and harvesting related risks, a part of the raw material, 10-30 %, will be frequently procured from the Baltic region.

The availability of the straw and the costs of the logistics chain depend on the road network, farm size and location, competitive use of the straw, the quality of the soil and available harvesting capacity.

Completion the project will make Kouvola region and Finland as one of the global leaders in the manufacturing of straw-based bioethanol.

The Location of the Site

The contemplated straw-ethanol plant will be established at the closed paper mill at Myllykoski, Kouvola. At the site there is a ready bio power plant, sizeable buildings for the equipment and machinery and the storage, which reduces the requirement investments with 100 M € compared to a greenfield project. Additionally there is an integrated waste water treatment plant.

The site locates ideally. The national railroad and main roads are right next to the site and the distance to the Hamina chemical harbour is only ca 30 km.

Side Products

Several industrial parties have expressed interest to transfer or establish their operations to the site and to acquire the excess steam from the existing power plant and to utilize the other infrastructure.

It is feasible to produce industrial gas out of the CO2, which comes as a side product from the process, as the price is very competitive. The need of CO2 in industrial processes increases constantly. Particularly food industry and also waster water treatment facilities have increased the use of CO2. The domestic CO2 production has not increased according to the consumption and therefore CO2 is imported to Finland.