Essity is starting a pilot project in Mainz-Kostheim to run a paper machine CO2-free with green hydrogen. For this purpose, natural gas will be successively replaced by green hydrogen during ongoing production. With this project, which is the first of its kind in the paper industry, Essity wants to show that even energy-intensive production can be CO2 -free. The Swedish company is investing a total of four million euros.
Essity is once again becoming more sustainable: the company is relying on green hydrogen in the production of hygiene papers, so-called tissue. The four-million-euro pilot project will test the extent to which green hydrogen can replace the natural gas used in the drying process. For this purpose, a paper machine will be converted by autumn 2022 so that the burners of the drying unit can be operated with up to 100 percent hydrogen. A cooperation partner in this project is Mainzer Stadtwerke AG, which is building and operating a mobile hydrogen mixing plant on the Essity site. The state of Hesse is funding the project with money from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Thorsten Becherer, Essity plant manager says: "We will be the first in the world to use green hydrogen in hygiene paper production. This will prove that we can also achieve the high quality of our products with hydrogen and thus sustainably. We will succeed in making a tissue paper machine not only CO2-neutral but CO2-free with the help of green hydrogen". Christian Schüller, Essity project manager adds: "With our project to use green hydrogen instead of natural gas industrially for the first time, we are contributing our part to decarbonisation. We are creating a sustainable industrial process. It will set an example for many other companies in the future".
The cooperation partner Mainzer Stadtwerke AG has been operating the Mainz Energy Park since 2015, where hydrogen is produced in an environmentally friendly way using wind energy, among other things. "We have sound experience in the topic of hydrogen and are pleased to contribute to this groundbreaking project as a cooperation partner," says Michael Worch, Managing Director of Mainzer Netze GmbH, a subsidiary of Stadtwerke Mainz AG.
The Essity plant in Mainz-Kostheim
The Essity plant in Mainz-Kostheim has been consistently focusing on sustainability and recycling for many years: the Kostheim plant processes waste paper into high-quality Tork brand hygiene papers and has developed the world's first recycling service for paper towels with the Tork-Paper-Circle®. A total of 152,000 tonnes of paper are produced and distributed by 540 employees at the Essity plant in Mainz-Kostheim.
