GERMANY (News release) -- Progroup is planning to build a state-of-the-art refuse-derived fuel (RDF) power plant right next to its high-tech paper mill PM3 in Sandersdorf-Brehna, Germany. It will supply a large share of the process heat and electricity for PM3 in the future. For this purpose, waste materials from the company's own production and from the region will be thermally utilised. The company is investing around Euro 135 million in the project. Construction of the combined heat and power plant is scheduled to start at the end of 2022. It is set to be commissioned by the end of 2025.

With the paper machine PM2 in Eisenhüttenstadt already having its own power plant that supplies it with electricity and heat, PM3 is now also getting its own sustainable energy supply. This is where the impurities contained in the recovered paper as well as waste materials which are produced in production are thermally utilised. This reduces the use of fossil fuels and therefore CO2 emissions.
The paper factory is already saving 170,000 tonnes of CO2 each year by using the very latest technology. When the new CHP plant is added from the end of 2025, this will add another 80,000 tonnes, allowing a total of 250,000 tonnes of CO2 to be saved at this site each year.

Progroup AG, located in Landau in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, is one of the leading manufacturers of containerboard and corrugated board in Europe.