Smurfit Kappa begins work at heat recovery project at Austrian mill

Smurfit Kappa has begun construction on a new project at its paper mill in Austria that will use waste heat generated at the mill to help power a sustainable district heating solution.

The new heat extraction plant at the Nettingsdorf Paper Mill is a joint venture with Bioenergie Group. The plant will capture and convert up to 25 megawatts of heat generated in the production process. This heat will then be supplied to the district heating network, which connects to 10,000 households in Ansfelden.

The paper mill has invested €134 million in a new recovery boiler in a bid to reduce the use of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions.

“This project is another important step forward in advancing sustainability here at our mill in Nettingsdorf. We will capture the waste heat in the most environmentally friendly way possible, to significantly reduce the discharge of heat into the environment,” said Günter Hochrathner, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa Nettingsdorf.

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“We anticipate that this will significantly reduce the CO2 emissions of the surrounding district by as much as 20,000 tonnes per annum.”

Smurfit Kappa has previously been involved with other heating projects, using secondary heat from its Piteå Paper Mill to develop an efficient district heating scheme for local residents.

Bioenergie Group managing director Jakob Edler said the project would feed into the untapped energy potential at the mill. "Together with Smurfit Kappa, we will be able to provide an environmentally friendly form of energy to thousands of households, eliminating the need to burn fossil fuels, and save a significant amount of carbon dioxide in the process," he said.