Rayonier Advanced Materials

Rayonier Advanced Materials

Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. and Borregaard ASA have chosen Fernandina Beach as the location of their new venture, LignoTech Florida. The new manufacturing facility will be housed at RYAM’s Fernandina Beach site and will create 50 jobs in Nassau County.

Governor Scott said, “I am proud to announce that Fernandina Beach has been selected as the best location for the new LignoTech facility, which will create 50 new jobs for families in Nassau County. Borregaard ASA and Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. are global companies that could have selected any other state to invest in, but they ultimately chose Florida thanks to our hard work to cut taxes and build a business-friendly environment.”

The new operation will provide environmentally friendly alternatives to oil-based products used in construction, agriculture and other industrial applications. Construction for the project is expected to begin shortly with operations beginning approximately 18 months after the commencement of construction.

Paul Boynton, the Chairman, President and CEO of Rayonier Advanced Materials, said, “We’re excited to move forward with this new business to produce environmentally friendly alternatives to many fossil-fuel based products. Our partnership with Borregaard will create over 50 high-paying jobs and contribute more than $28 million annually to Northeast Florida’s economy. LignoTech Florida creates value for the stockholders of Borregaard and Rayonier Advanced Materials and is great for our community and Fernandina plant.”

Per A. Sørlie, President and CEO of Borregaard, said, “This project creates significant new growth opportunities for our lignin business. Our partnership pairs Borregaard’s expertise in manufacturing, marketing and product development of lignin-based products with RYAM’s co-product generation and highly-competitive site location. We appreciate the strong local support this project has already received. Officials at the city, county and state levels have been excellent partners. We look forward to working with them in the future.”

Mike Grissom, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Florida, Inc., said, “We’re excited to announce this expansion by Rayonier Advanced Materials. This new partnership between Rayonier Advanced Materials and Borregaard ASA made this a highly competitive project. These are two global industry leaders that could have chosen any location worldwide. Because of the teamwork between our state and local partners, today we’re thanking these great companies for choosing Nassau County and Florida.”

Cissy Proctor, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, said, “It’s great news for Florida families that another international company has recognized the incredible opportunity to grow its business in Florida. Florida’s strong manufacturing sector leads the nation in job gains, and the 50 new high-skill, high-wage jobs that LignoTech will bring to Nassau County will help us continue to set the bar for manufacturing growth.”

Laura DiBella, Executive Director of the Nassau County Economic Development Board, said, “I cannot express enough how incredible this expansion is to the City of Fernandina Beach, Nassau County and the Northeast Florida region as a whole. It is such a uniquely positive project where its implementation will not only enhance operations at the current Rayonier Advanced Materials facility, it will also reduce the carbon footprint in numerous applications by replacing petroleum based products. All this while creating high wage manufacturing jobs with a tremendous economic impact in what is currently a designated rural county in Florida. This is economic development at its finest and I am so thrilled and proud to welcome LignoTech Florida to Nassau County!”