A new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of its Kuura® textile fibre has been finished by Metsä Spring, the Metsä Group’s innovation company. Metsä Spring requested that Etteplan perform a research utilising the conventional LCA technique in order to evaluate the environmental impact of a potential first commercial-scale mill producing Kuura. RISE Research Institutes of Sweden conducted a critical examination of the study’s findings. At a greenfield demonstration facility in Äänekoski, Finland, Kuura’s production process is presently being tested and refined. The nominal capacity of the demonstration plant is one tonne per day.
Kuura’s global warming potential (GWP100, fossil) score, according to the evaluation, is less than one-third that of viscose, the next best choice. “GWP” refers to a greenhouse gas’s relative potency, molecule for molecule, taking into account how long it is active in the atmosphere. Kuura’s GWP is more than 80 per cent lower than that of lyocell fibre and barely 25 per cent of cotton fibre.
The goal of Metsä Group is to launch a new textile fibre product that is competitive across a wide range of criteria. One important indicator is the effects on the environment, particularly the capacity to slow down climate change. The current evaluation by outside specialists indicates that the selected concept has a lot of potential, which makes the corporation very happy, says Niklas von Weymarn, CEO of Metsä Spring, hoping this will spur additional growth.
Instead of using dissolving pulp, which is frequently utilised as a raw material in the manufacturing of synthetic cellulosic fibres like lyocell and viscose fibres, Kuura is created from softwood Kraft pulp. Forests near the pulp and textile fibre mills would provide the wood needed to produce pulp.
In addition to the LCA findings, the Canadian non-profit environmental group Canopy’s Hot Button Ranking study has given Kuura textile fibre high marks. For the fourth year in a row, Kuura received a “Green Shirt” designation, which is based on traceable raw ingredients, a transparent supply chain, and no risk.
