below please find a selection of the latest news from the world of pulp and paper.

ipw news

Veolia Water Technologies will support a major expansion of a mill in Brazil by providing a turnkey chloride removal system designed to optimize the processing of wood-derived pulp used in the making of cellulose fibers.

UPM has signed a long-term Wind Power Purchase agreement with German wind park development company wpd. The use of renewable wind power for UPM’s paper mills will help reduce CO₂ emissions by 200,000 tonnes annually as of 2022, representing 5% of UPM’s total CO₂ emissions. For UPM, this is an important step towards achieving the company’s ambitious 65% CO₂ emission reduction target by 2030.

Valmet will supply an evaporation line to Century Pulp and Paper’s (CPP) pulp mill in Lalkuan, India. The new evaporation line will meet the future needs of the mill's ongoing pulp production capacity expansion, together with the existing evaporation line. This investment will also improve the overall steam economy of the mill. The order was included in Valmet’s orders received of the fourth quarter 2019. The value of an order of this size and delivery scope is typically below EUR 10 million. The new evaporation line is planned to start up during latter part of 2020.

Double A, an Asian pulp and paper producer, has selected ABB Ability™ Advanced Process Control (APC) for its pulp mill in Prachinburi, Thailand. The new contract includes full supply and implementation of ABB’s OPT800 Caust and OPT800 Lime APC applications for better control of the causticizing and lime production processes.

Toscotec has successfully started up its 200?? Steel Yankee Dryer at César Iglesias Group’s mill in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. César Iglesias Technical Director, Jesús Feris Ferrús, commented: “Following three months of stable operation, we can confirm that our new steel Yankee dryer is delivering exceptional performances. We registered a 25% reduction of our overall thermal consumption including Yankee and Hoods. The TT SYD’s drying capacity is so high that we could significantly decrease the hoods temperature, thereby saving a substantial amount of energy. We also witnessed a great improvement of our tissue quality, in terms of hand feel and CD moisture profile. This led to an increase in our converting efficiency, which we estimate to be in the range of 10%.”

Sappi Europe to increase prices for Woodfree Coated and Woodfree Uncoated paper grades by 5-8% for all Export markets with immediate effect.

International technology group ANDRITZ was selected by UPM, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, to supply energy-efficient and environmentally leading equipment and processes for all main process islands in fiber production and chemical recovery for their new pulp mill to be built near Paso de los Toros in central Uruguay.

Sappi’s strategy recognises the “leadership position of the company in graphic papers markets” and the need to strengthen its position in these markets to deliver maximum value to the company. The continuing and accelerating structural drop in demand for coated papers in Europe and elsewhere has made it impossible for Sappi Europe to fill its capacities adequately and to be sufficiently profitable in its current form. Importantly the current unfavourable market situation is caused by factors that are beyond Sappi’s control.

Pixelle Specialty Solutions (“Pixelle”) has completed its acquisition of specialty papers mills in Jay, ME (”Androscoggin”) and Stevens Point, WI from Verso Corporation. With the addition of the newly acquired mills, Pixelle is now the largest specialty papers producer in North America with production currently exceeding one million tons annually. Pixelle has “industry-leading positions” in multiple specialty paper grades including release papers, thermal labels, food and beverage labels, food packaging papers, inkjet papers, casting liners, book papers, carbonless and forms, security papers, envelope and converting papers, and various niche products.

Since the Voith Paper Webshop was launched in 2017, the number of users has risen continuously. Worldwide, more than 96 companies are already using the newly developed online tool from Voith’s digital portfolio. The Mondi Group, which has more than 100 production facilities in 30 countries worldwide, is now also relying on Voith’s simple, time-saving and cost-saving ordering processes.

Toscotec named Stefano Pecchia its new Energy Technology Director as its tissue and paper and board business looks ahead to continued growth in 2020. Stefano Pecchia has more than twenty years of broad industry experience as a Technical Manager. He has worked on the design of energy and drying technologies for global key players, both in tissue and paper and board. He holds a bachelor degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Pisa and a master’s degree in Paper and Board.

ABB announced the launch of its Induction xP Plus actuator for paper and packaging manufacturers seeking a powerful, efficient, rapid-acting and safe method for controlling caliper on paper machines calenders. Induction xP Plus rapidly ensures efficient heating up to 100 kW/meter in a highly-targeted area, providing unmatched flexibility for power density and heating zone width. It is the only caliper profiling system available with hybrid control zone configurations of 60 mm, 75 mm or 120 mm, enabling customers to target higher precision heat distribution at the edges, where it is often critical, as well as increasing heat density to get on spec quicker - even after sheet breaks.

Valmet will deliver cooking and fiberline to Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd. (TNPL) for their unit 2, located in Mondipatti in the Trichy District, India. The site has a 200,000 tons per year multilayer board machine, which has been in operation since 2016. The new pulp mill will have a capacity of 165,000 tons per year of bleached hardwood kraft pulp and the start-up is planned for the first quarter of 2021. The order is included in Valmet’s orders received of the fourth quarter 2019. The value of the order will not be disclosed. An order with this scope of supply is usually valued in the range of EUR 20-30 million.

International technology Group ANDRITZ will be presenting its innovative nonwovens production and textile solutions at INDEX 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 31 to April 3 (booth 2114). The broad ANDRITZ product portfolio covers state-of-the-art nonwovens and textile production technologies such as air-through bonding, needlepunch, spunlace, spunbond, wetlaid, converting and textile finishing.

bio-fibre news

The spruce bark beetle has rampaged through the forests of southern Sweden, affecting many forest owners. In response, Holmen has developed an analytical tool, based on satellite images and artificial intelligence, showing actual damage on a map. Now, the forest company’s private wood suppliers can access one of these maps. A service that Holmen is “first to come up with”.

Valmet will supply a Defibrator™ system and a Steam Separator PV system to Qinzhou Lvyuan Wood Co., Ltd. in China. The start-up of the system is planned for spring 2020. The order was included in Valmet’s orders received of the fourth quarter 2019. The value of the order will not be disclosed. Qinzhou Lvyuan project is a new investment of Lvyuan Group to expand its production and diversify its product range. The project is located in Guangxi autonomous region. In recent years, Guangxi has actively developed the forestry industry, expanded the industrial chain and built industrial clusters.

Last week, the European Commission was hosting the “International Conference on Forests for Biodiversity and Climate” in Brussels to discuss pressures on EU forest ecosystems due to, among others, climate change as well as how to best protect forests and their biodiversity for a climate neutral and climate resilient land.