BANGKOK – Austrian wood-based fibre business, Lenzing, has unveiled further details of its plans to establish the world’s largest lyocell production facility. Based in Thailand, the proposed plant will have an annual capacity of 100,000 tons and offers further evidence of the burgeoning demand for wood-derived fibres from global apparel brands. The total investment volume for the first production line at the new plant, including infrastructure and site development, amounts to approximately €400 million, with the potential to integrate four such lines on the site.
The project is said to be of huge strategic importance to Lenzing as it is the first step in bringing lyocell production to Asia, featuring its largest potential markets and most extensive growth potential in specialty fibre production.
The project to build the plant in Prachinburi, Thailand was approved in June 2019. Industrial Park 304 in Prachinburi, located about 150KM east of the Thai capital Bangkok, was selected due to its excellent overall infrastructure and the sustainable biogenic energy supply, which will help Lenzing to meet its ambitious CO2 targets.
The cooperation with the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), the country’s free trade agreements with China and easy access to ASEAN’s growing middle class market were all said to be decisive factors in selecting this site.
Lenzing has selected Wood as engineering partner for the project. Following the plant completion in the third quarter of 2021, Lenzing expects to produce the first fibres at this site in the fourth quarter of the same year.
Mike Collins, president of capital projects in Wood’s Asset Solutions business across Europe, Africa, Asia & Australia, said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by Lenzing to help deliver what will be the world’s largest lyocell plant. Being selected to lead a project of this scale and complexity is testament to the outstanding technical capability we have in our Asia Pacific business, and our strong understanding of the local market environment in Thailand where we have been operating for over 50 years.”
