Customer-driven R&D enables high-quality pulp from seedling to end product
UPM has four dedicated R&D centers worldwide to ensure our products meet the highest standards while also providing our customers with expert research support. The research and development team in Uruguay specializes in understanding how different eucalyptus species, blends and raw materials perform in the pulping process, and how this performance affects the properties of the final product to meet customers’ needs. Ensuring the best pulp quality for our customers starts as early as the careful selection of seedling clones.
UPM operates two world-class pulp mills in Uruguay, UPM Fray Bentos and UPM Paso de los Toros, which together produce 3.4 million tonnes of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp (BEK) annually. The company’s activities include sustainable forestry management, certified eucalyptus plantations, and state-of-the-art tree nurseries. The R&D team in Uruguay has been evaluating the quality of wood feedstock, especially eucalyptus, both at laboratory and industrial scale for over 30 years.
“Extensive and long-term studies allow us to reliably predict how new raw materials will behave in the mill and which papermaking properties it will have based on laboratory evaluations. Our database also helps the UPM mills in Uruguay to understand what to expect from the wood supply in both the short and long term,” says Ernesto De Los Santos, Researcher, R&D and Technology. He has been working at the UPM Fray Bentos mill in Uruguay since its start-up in 2007. With a background in chemistry and further MSc studies in cellulose and paper engineering, De Los Santos joined the R&D team in 2012.
The team of eight researchers and development engineers at the Fray Bentos and Paso de los Toros mills also collaborates closely with the UPM Pulp Technical Marketing and Services (TMS) team to ensure that the product offering matches our pulp customers’ needs and industry demands. TMS works in close technical cooperation with customers and ensures that they can use UPM’s pulp to their full potential. “TMS also works with us when addressing pulp quality questions and provides valuable customer feedback, highlighting what customers value most and which characteristics they would like to see further improved,” De Los Santos describes.
Sustainable forestry and standard-compliant pulp production
R&D works closely with operations across the entire value chain and uses a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to assess environmental impacts from nursery and forestry through to the Fray Bentos and Paso de los Toros pulp mill gates. The complete model enables reliable carbon footprint reporting for customers and supports better-informed decisions across the value chain.
De Los Santos continues that early-stage R&D decisions, such as selecting clones based on improved pulping yield and energy and chemical efficiency, enable UPM to produce more pulp using fewer resources.
Sustainable forestry practices are also a critical part of our operation, with independent certification being an important way to ensure it is credible and done to exacting standards.
“The eucalyptus plantations are FSCTM certified (1), which ensures responsible management of natural resources and supports our customers’ sustainability goals when they use our pulp in their products,” says De Los Santos.
All UPM operations in Uruguay are designed to comply with Uruguay's strict environmental regulations, as well as international standards and recommendations for modern plants and forestry operations. Environmental performance is verified through extensive and transparent monitoring. UPM uses minimal fertilizers and only FSC-approved pesticides in the early establishment phase when seedlings are first planted. There is no irrigation either – the trees must be able to survive by themselves in suitable areas that have been guided by the Uruguayan Government’s own land use mapping.
Customer feedback shapes eucalyptus R&D, starting with seedling selection
The process of selecting the eucalyptus seedling clones to ensure the optimal tree growth and the best pulp quality begins at UPM’s own nurseries. Each new clone undergoes a thorough evaluation to identify those best suited to deliver strong growth performance and the pulp characteristics our customers value most. Only the clones that clearly outperform those currently in use are taken forward and scaled up. De Los Santos says it typically takes between 11 and 15 years for a promising clone to mature and reach the mill.
The priority is healthy tree growth, including resistance to pests, adaptation to Uruguay’s climate and the required basic density. Once these criteria are met, the best candidates are evaluated from a pulping and papermaking perspective.
“We measure several key parameters, such as pulping yield, chemical consumption, ease of delignification and, finally, papermaking properties. The last phase gives us a clear picture of how each eucalyptus species and clones would contribute to maximizing the fibre quality characteristics most valued by our customers, constituting a key step in the selection,” De Los Santos explains. For example, UPM Euca is an optimal blend of Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus dunnii species, which combined provide a unique set of pulp and papermaking properties. Eucalyptus dunnii has higher basic density and thick-walled, less-collapsible fibres which provides bulk and easier dewatering properties.
“I think one of our strengths is how we manage the process. We ensure that the development of new wood raw materials always incorporates market needs and customer expectations. The communication process is very clear: TMS shares with us what customers value most, and this feedback is built directly into the development of new clones,” De Los Santos sums up.
1) FSCTM SGSCH-COC-002249 / SGSCH-CW-002249