The paperboard made at Iggesund is made solely from chemically produced cellulose fibres. They are freed by cooking the timber in lye until the timber is dissolved. Wood is comprised of 50 per cent cellulose fibres, with the other 50 per cent being a binding agent, whose most important and largest component is a substance called lignin. The carefully freed fibres are rinsed and bleached before they are ready to be used to make paperboard.
The lignin that remains in the cooking water is burned to produce bioenergy – both thermal and electric – which can supply the entire mill’s energy needs.
Today the mill has only a minimal impact on the local environment. For example, thanks to the purification system that is in place to take care of air- and water-borne emissions, it is impossible to differentiate by chemical analysis between fish caught immediately outside the mill site from fish caught in reference areas unaffected by the mill.