€30m Finnish pilot plant to make viscose-like fibres

ESPOO – A Finnish technology business has developed a new, environmentally benign method to spin plant-based textile fibres from forest industry by-products, textile waste and paper pulp. Nordic Bioproducts, which is in the throes building a €30m pilot plant to scale the work, says it can process most types of cellulose feedstock in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective manner to produce a viscose-like textile fibre. “We are aiming to get to a price level which is economically viable for the fashion industry and close to that of current viscose production,” Olli Kähkönen, who developed the patented new method with his R&D team in cooperation with professor Olli Dahl, told Apparel Insider.