Stora Enso to build demonstration plant
Following its recent acquisition of the US-based biotechnology company Virdia, Stora Enso is investing EUR 32 million in a demonstration and market development plant to be built at Raceland, Louisiana, USA.
The investment serves the feasibility of the technology on industrial scale in the future, possibly also in some of Stora Enso’s existing pulp mills.
The demonstration plant will be located in the vicinity of existing sugar cane plantations and will use bagasse waste as feedstock. Sugar cane bagasse is a sustainable, non-genetically-modified feedstock that does not compete with food. It will be used to produce high purity five-carbon sugars and in particular xylose.
These sugars will be converted and upgraded for applications in, for example, food and personal care.