Eren Holding Officially Launches GBP 1 Billion Shotton Paper Mill Project in North Wales
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Eren Holding, a family-owned Turkish conglomerate, has officially launched its landmark GBP 1 billion Shotton Mill paper campus at a business meeting attended by senior Ministers from the UK and Welsh governments, along with leading figures from the international business community.
Eren acquired the Shotton Mill in October of 2021 from UPM. The mill, which is located in North Wales (United Kingdom), started-up in 1983 and produced about 260,000 metric tons per year of newsprint during its last few years of operation.
Now, the 85.6-hectare Shotton Mill site in North Wales (United Kingdom) is set for a major redevelopment to accommodate two advanced manufacturing operations: a containerboard machine (PM3) and a tissue paper machine (TM1).
The new containerboard machine — PM3 — will produce high-quality testliner and fluting grades in a basis weight range of 70-135 g/m2 using 100% recycled paper.
PM3, which will be supplied by Valmet, will have the capacity to produce about 750,000 metric tons per year of containerboard.
According to Eren, the overall project will be developed in phases, beginning with containerboard manufacturing and its related infrastructure, followed by phase one of the tissue production operations. The first tissue machine will have the capacity to produce 67,000 metric tons per year, and Eren said permission has been secured to expand the capacity of tissue production potentially to 210,000 tpy.
"This is the first step towards building a world-class facility that will completely transform recycling levels in the UK," said Hamdullah Eren, Board Member of Eren Holding. "We cannot wait to start production and to turn our vision into reality. We are extremely pleased to have the support of both the UK and Welsh Governments. This has allowed us to move forward with a major overseas investment as we realize our exciting plans for Shotton Mill."
In addition to the production lines, the site will feature facilities for fiber storage, anaerobic digestion-based effluent treatment, hydrogen-enabled combined heat and power (CHP), warehouses, and administrative offices. Existing structures, such as the materials recycling facility and biomass plant, will be retained.
The new mill will be energy self-sufficient and a key aspect of the project is the development of a hydrogen enabled combined heat and power (CHP) plant. This will generate efficient, low-carbon energy to power the mill's operations, achieving one of the company's key sustainability targets.
