This week Mercer International celebrated the inauguration of the first lignin plant in Germany as well as the only operating lignin plant in Europe at their Rosenthal site. The opening ceremony was led by the prime minister of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow, and the CEO and President of Mercer International Juan C. Bueno and excellently moderated by site manager Dr. Christian Soergel. Mercer will now operate the plant as part of their strategy towards using lignin as valuable bio-based precursor for multiple applications – beyond its current role for bioelectricity generation. It could very well turn out to be a historical moment.
Marc and Dirk were thrilled and honored to be invited to this important event as representatives of aerogel-it. The head of the new lignin center Dr. Lars Gabriel gave a tour of the lignin plant and explained the production process as well as the possible applications of lignin. As one example, Marc could show our 100% bio-based lignin aerogel as green superinsulation material for energy efficiency and decarbonization / defossilization to the participants and Ministerpräsident Ramelow. Afterwards, the Mercer team took the visitors on tours of the site, and the event was rounded off very well with an excellent barbecue and lunch for both the visitors and the site personnel.
And that was not all. On the preceding evening, Mercer hosted a dinner at in neighboring Bad Steben with participants from politics, academia, research institutions, finance institutions and industry, which Marc and Dirk were also kindly invited to. In several impulse talks Nicolas Hark of the nova-Institut GmbH, Prof. Dr. Michael Stelter of Fraunhofer IKTS, Prof. Dr. Peter Seeberger of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung and Bernt Farcke of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture underlined the urgency to act in face of the climate change but also highlighted the potential of bio-based raw materials as well as the complexities surrounding regulatory definition of terms such as decarbonization, defossilization, bioenergy with potentially drastic effects on the market. Truly challenging waters to navigate for all stakeholders in the years to come. Over dinner, the highly interesting and lively discussion continued until late at night.
A truly amazing event with perfect organization. A big thank you to the team of Mercer International!
