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

ipw news

D.Sc. (Tech.), Maija Pohjakallio is appointed Metsä Group’s VP, Climate and Circular Economy as of 1 August 2021. She reports to Jari Voutilainen, SVP Corporate Affairs. In her new role, Pohjakallio supports Metsä Group’s cooperation with key societal stakeholders and acts as the Group’s representative in climate change and circular economy related working groups and forums.

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Mayr-Melnhof Karton, Austria, to rebuild its KM3 at the mill in Frohnleiten. The aim of the rebuild is to increase production as well as improve quality and the ecological footprint. Start-up is scheduled for 2023.

On 7-8 September 2021, the international industry meeting for surface coating of paper, board and packaging material will take place - the 30^th PTS Coating Symposium 2021! The line-up of this year's edition will focus on the topic “Functional coatings for fibre based packaging”.

Stora Enso has completed the co-determination negotiations concerning closing down the pulp and paper production at its Veitsiluoto site in Finland. The closure will take place during the third quarter of 2021. As a result of the negotiations, 550 people will be permanently laid off. Some 28% of the redundancies can be managed through pension arrangements.

Toscotec will supply an AHEAD 2.2S tissue machine to Saudi Paper Group (SPG) at its Dammam paper mill in Saudi Arabia. The new PM2 will produce premium quality tissue from virgin pulp. The start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Valmet will deliver two Valmet Paper Labs, automated board and paper testing laboratories for Brigl & Bergmeister’s paper mills in Niklasdorf, Austria and Vevce, Slovenia. Valmet Paper Labs deliver accurate and rapid measurement results that are used to monitor and control the quality of the specialty papers produced by the two mills.

International technology Group ANDRITZ has received an order from Jiangxi Five Star Paper Co., Ltd., China to deliver four PrimeCoat Jet coaters for online coating for their mill in Hukou county (Jiujiang city), Jiangxi province. Start-up is scheduled for 2021.

Stora Enso has joined the new WWF platform, Forests Forward. The platform engages businesses and investors to deliver on forest related sustainability ambitions, such as biodiversity protection and forest restoration.

Voith offers a reliable and professional on-site disc filter refurbishment service to optimize disc filter performance, resulting in stable and excellent filtrate values and minimized solids content. Disc filter performance determines the quality of the filtrate water and thus influences the operating costs of the plant.

Sappi Europe announces a price increase for Transjet, Basejet and Inkjet grades by 8-15 % valid for deliveries from 1 July 2021. The unprecedented and ongoing rise of raw material costs, particularly pulp, chemicals and energy in combination with extremely high freight rates makes price adjustments unavoidable.

Valmet will supply a large pulp and paper technology delivery to Klabin in Brazil. The order consists of a paperboard making line (PM 28), a complete new fiberline including a new Continuous Cooking G3, and a new bleached chemi thermo mechanical pulp (BCTMP) line, all with extensive scopes of automation and Valmet Industrial Internet solutions. The start-ups of PM 28, the BCTMP line and the fiberline are scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.

Specialty chemical company Lanxess is raising its prices for inorganic pigments globally with immediate effect, subject to existing agreements. Quotations will be increased by EUR 150 minimum per metric ton or its equivalent in local currency. In some cases, price increase can be higher depending on product group and production site. Customers will be contacted individually as it applies to their products.

Metsä Group is expanding the operations of its innovation company Metsä Spring that was established in June 2018. So far, Metsä Spring has been mainly involved in development activities outside the current business areas of Metsä Group. From now on, it will also support research and development related to Metsä Group’s current business areas.

Valmet has, on June 9, 2021, entered into agreements to acquire EWK Umwelttechnik GmbH, a German company manufacturing and supplying air emission control systems and after-installation services, and ECP Group, a Finnish manufacturer and maintainer of air emission control systems. These acquisitions complement Valmet’s customer offering in environmental technologies and related services.

Digitization is a worldwide trend that everyone is catching up to: the goal of manufacturers is to create their own smart factory solution that, thanks to digitization and computerization, is able to better organize operations by connecting the business side and the production side.

Stora Enso has decided to invest EUR 21 million to improve the competitiveness and environmental performance of the Anjala-Ingerois production sites. Stora Enso will also invest EUR 26 million in modernising the pulp production at Nymölla in Sweden.

International technology Group ANDRITZ presents two new tissue machines with a design speed of 2,200 m/min for high production capacity:

• PrimeLineTM S 2200 with 2.6 to 2.85 m width at reel
• PrimeLineTM W 2200 with 5.4 to 5.6 m width at reel

Mondi, global company in packaging and paper, will implement price increases of between 8% and 15% across the majority of its uncoated fine paper grades produced in Austria and Slovakia as of 5 July 2021.

ABB has announced its European Pulp and Paper Tour, which officially launched on June 9 at ZELLCHEMING, Germany, a virtual event organized by the European Pulp & Paper Industry Association.

Valmet and Mercer Rosenthal deepen their long-term partnership as Valmet will upgrade Mercer Rosenthal’s mill’s Valmet IQ Quality Control System with the new scanner and related measurements. Valmet delivered the existing quality control system in 1999, and after more than 20 years of reliable operation, Mercer Rosenthal made the decision to upgrade its aging system to ensure its continuous sustainability and reliability.

bio-fibre news

AFRY provided expertise in Arauco’s Licancel pulp mill project, which targeted to enable the expansion of water reuse in the pulp production line as part of the company's sustainability objectives. Arauco requested AFRY to develop different scenarios of how the treated effluent could be reused in the pulp mill itself. With its special competence in pulp and paper sector, AFRY is strengthening its operations in the Chilean industry.

International technology Group ANDRITZ has received a repeat order from Zhejiang Saintyear Textile Co., Ltd., based in China, to supply a second, complete neXline spunlace line for the production of premium-quality nonwoven roll goods. The line is scheduled for start-up during the third quarter of 2022.