Kronospan opens wood panel factory in Tortosa, Spain
3 August 2023In just over a year, Kronospan has built a 25ha factory that has already been producing 600m3 each day since April.
With an investment of more than €400m, this new plant is one of the largest foreign investments ever recorded in the area and will lead to the creation of around 180 direct jobs and around 1,500 additional indirect jobs in timber supply, logistics, maintenance, and services.
This is a 100% sustainable project that aligns with the principles of the circular economy. The new factory works with 100% recycled wood sourced from discarded end-of-life domestic furniture collected by Kronospan’s suppliers. The plan is to get 100 truckloads of recycled wood per day, which will be cleaned, crushed, and turned into boards.
The new plant incorporates a state-of-the-art particleboard press capable of producing 2,000m3 per day. The planned production is 720,000m3/year, which will contribute to a 0.72Mt of CO2/year reduction of the CO2 footprint in the region of Catalonia, north-eastern Spain. It also includes a 40m-high cleaning tower with photocells separating the wood chips from the waste material. The heat required for the production process is sourced from a biomass boiler fuelled by bark and processed wood rejects, unsuitable for wood-based panels.
In keeping with sustainability principles, solar panels installed on the factory ´s roof help power production lines with clean and renewable energy
