Lenzing Group is to invest more than €200 million in its production sites in Purwakarta in Indonesia and Nanjing in China to convert existing standard viscose capacity into environmentally responsible speciality fibres.

In Nanjing, the company will establish the first wood-based fibre complex in China that is independent from coal as an energy source. By using natural gas-based cogeneration, Lenzing will reduce CO2 emissions at the site by more than 200,000 tons. At the same time, a line of standard viscose will be converted to make 35,000 tons of Tencel to convert the plant into a 100% wood-based speciality fibre operation by the end of 2022.

In Purwakarta, Lenzing will reduce its CO2 emissions by increasingly using biogenic fuels. Additional investments to reduce emissions to air and water will make this facility fully compliant with the EU Ecolabel by the end of 2022. This will lead to the conversion of standard viscose capacity into Ecovero branded fibres for textile applications and Viscose Eco for personal care and hygiene prpducts. As a result, the site in Indonesia will also become a pure speciality viscose supplier by 2023.

Both investments are fully in line with Lenzing’s target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions per ton of product by 50% by 2030.

By avoiding or reducing the use of fossil fuels at the two sites, the Lenzing Group will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 320,000 tons in total. In addition, the investments allow Lenzing to reduce its total sulphur emissions by more than 50% compared to 2019.

“With our ambitious climate targets towards a zero-carbon future, we are pioneers in the entire manufacturing industry and especially in the fibre sector,” said Stefan Doboczky, CEO of the Lenzing Group. “These investments are a substantial step towards our strategic targets for 2024”,

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