Finnish forestry firm Stora Enso has announced the opening of its pilot plant making bio-based carbon from lignin – a type of organic polymer. The wood-based product (dubbed Lignode) is intended for use in batteries for products such as electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.
The announcement follows the company’s receipt of €10m in funding in 2019.
Conventional rechargeable batteries use graphite in their anodes, a synthetic and non-renewable material that Stora Enso hopes to replace.
“With our pilot plant now ramping up operations, Stora Enso is entering a new value chain in supplying more sustainable anode materials for batteries,” said Markus Mannström, Executive Vice President of Stora Enso’s Biomaterials division in a press release. With Lignode, we can provide a bio-based, cost-competitive and high-performance material to replace the conventionally used graphite. To serve the fast-growing anode materials market, we are now exploring strategic partnerships to accelerate scale-up and commercialisation in Europe.”
The pilot facility is based in the firm’s Sunila production site in Kotka, Finland, a country that has produced lignin industrially since 2015. Current annual lignin production from the site sits at 50,000 tonnes, making Stora Enso the world’s largest producer of kraft lignin.
In addition to its potential application in batteries, Lineo can also be harnessed to replace phenol in resins, or even to create bio-based asphalt. The benefit of lignin stems from its naturally binding properties, allowing it to be integrated into a number of products that currently rely on fossil fuel-based materials. No additional tree felling is needed for lignin production, instead coming from sustainably sourced wood.
Stora Enso has seen market growth that has remained strong in the wake of the pandemic, something that was partially attributed to the success of the company’s lignin products.
In a statement, Stora Enso CEO Annica Bresky said Lignode was a key innovation that would boost further growth for the company, saying: “through this solution, we aim to increase the availability of a highly strategic material for the European automotive sector.”
The firm has been making significant strides in aiding development of the circular economy, both through its own technology as well as external investments – most recently in its collaboration with TetraPak to channel €29.1m into packaging recycling in Poland.
