InfraLeuna commissions wastewater plant for UPM biorefinery

InfraLeuna GmbH has commissioned a new anaerobic wastewater treatment plant at the Leuna chemical site to support the operations of UPM Biochemicals GmbH. The facility was developed to manage the highly organic wastewater produced by UPM’s new biorefinery, which utilizes sustainably sourced hardwood to produce biochemicals as alternatives to fossil raw materials.

UPM’s biorefinery project represents an investment of approximately 1.3 billion euros, making it one of the largest industrial investments in recent years in Germany and the most significant biochemical project in Europe. Once fully operational, the plant is expected to produce roughly 220,000 tonnes of advanced biochemicals annually for use in textiles, packaging, cosmetics, and rubber.

The new anaerobic pretreatment process uses microbiological methods to break down organic components without oxygen before the water is sent to the central biological wastewater treatment plant at the Leuna site.