UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery

UPM’s Lappeenranta Biorefinery is the first commercial-scale biorefinery to produce renewable wood-based diesel and naphtha. The biorefinery is right next door to the UPM Kaukas pulp and paper mill, helping us to meet growing demand for biofuel in the European Union. Global demand for biofuels is expected to rise substantially by 2030.

Production technology

Crude tall oil as a raw material

UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery in numbers

130,000 tonnes/year

of advanced biofuels

100 + 150

direct and indirect employees

EUR 179 million

investment

First in the world

on a commercial scale

Enhanced biofuel production technology

Renewable UPM BioVerno is made from wood-based tall oil by a hydrotreatment process developed at the UPM Research Centre in Lappeenranta, Southeast Finland. UPM is pioneering a transformation of the forest industry, seeking to use wood with optimal efficiency. We want to maximise the lifecycle of wood-based raw materials replacing fossils.

Story of UPM BioVerno diesel

Crude tall oil as a raw material

Crude tall oil is a natural wood extract of mainly softwood origin. This renewable raw material comes from sustainably managed forests - extracted as a residue when separating wood fibre for pulp production.

A substantial part of the renewable raw material processed in Lappeenranta comes from UPM pulp mills in Finland, such as the neighbouring UPM Kaukas mill. The use of crude tall oil in biofuel production does not increase wood usage.

Learn more about our sustainable raw materials

Explore UPM pulp mills at upmpulp.com

Timeline of UPM BioVerno journey