Stora Enso is taking a significant step forward in renewable materials innovation by building a pre-commercial plant at Imatra mill in Finland for the production of microfibrillated cellulose, MFC.MFC offers lighter and stronger materials for renewable packaging and other potential future applications. The new type of renewable material will be used in existing and new fiber-based paper and board products, barrier materials, and other potential applications.“The MFC pre-commercial plant is another proof point of rethinking within Stora Enso. With MFC we will be able to develop lighter and stronger renewable packaging materials,” said Jouko Karvinen, CEO of Stora Enso.“The pre-commercial plant will put us into a unique position to accelerate customer-driven innovation and product concepts from this technology,” Karvinen added.The microfibrillated cellulose technology project, including the Imatra pre-commercial plant, is estimated to total approximately ten million Euros. The plant is scheduled to start production by the end of this year.