Metsä Birch

Metsä Birch

Metsä Birch Bleached Hardwood Kraft Pulp (BHKP)

Our Metsä Birch branded bleached hardwood kraft pulp (BHKP) is produced by kraft pulping in our bioproduct and pulp mills. Metsä Birch BHKP is made from high-quality Nordic birch (Betula verrucosa, Betula pendula or Betula pubescens) that is responsibly and sustainably sourced. The wood we use is traceable.

We produce Metsä Birch products at our bioproduct mills in Äänekoski and Kemi in Finland and at Metsä Board’s pulp mill in Husum, Sweden. Our Metsä Birch pulp gives end products the high tensile strength and surface properties that our customers need. Some of the pulp we produce is used within the Metsä Group, being processed further for a wide range of end products, from paperboard and its end uses to consumer and professional tissue papers. 

Through chemical pulping, the birch wood chips are cooked with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium sulfide (Na2S) solution. As the lignin in wood dissolves, the remaining pulp with the cellulose is separated. This resulting pulp undergoes bleaching to eventually compose BHKP, often to be used in white paper and tissue products. BHKP’s versatility, brightness and strength makes it a preferred type of pulp in the paper and tissue manufacturing industry.

Typical end uses of Metsä Birch Bleached Hardwood Kraft Pulp (BHKP):

Paperboard and packaging

  • Folding boxboard, FBB
  • Liquid packaging board, LPB
  • Food service board, FSB
  • White top kraft liner, WKL

Tissue products

  • Toilet and towel tissue
  • Facial tissue and handkerchiefs
  • Napkins

Specialty products

  • Label papers
  • Baking and cooking papers
  • Thermal papers
  • Glassine
  • CMC

Wood free papers

  • Uncoated fine papers, WFU
  • Coated fine papers, WFC