On January 23, 2026, UPM-Kymmene Corp., a global leading forest industry enterprise headquartered in Finland, announced a major breakthrough at its new biorefinery in Leuna, Germany. The facility has successfully mass-produced the world's first lignin-based Renewable Functional Filler (RFF) named "UPM BioMotio", which was officially launched onto the market at the end of 2025. This milestone marks a crucial step in the commissioning of Europe's largest industrial-scale biochemical investment project.
    With an investment of 1.2 billion euros, the biorefinery uses sustainable hardwood as raw material and has an annual design capacity of 220,000 tons of new bio-based chemicals. The plant has achieved stable separation of lignin and sugar, a key process that converts sugar into renewable ethylene glycol and lignin into renewable functional fillers. As an alternative to carbon black and silica, the product can be widely used in tires, automotive rubber components, hoses, seals, footwear, flooring and other products. UPM stated that more commercial products will be launched from the Leuna biorefinery in the first half of 2026 as production capacity continues to expand.

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