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

ipw news

International technology Group Andritz has received an order from Shandong Huatai Paper Industry Shareholding to upgrade an existing BCTMP (bleached chemi-thermo-mechanical pulp) plant to become the world’s largest mechanical pulping line for P&W (Printing & Writing) paper production at the mill in Dongying, Shandong province, China. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022.

The new Forest Strategy is an important piece of the European Commission architecture to deliver on the European Green Deal. There is a consensus on the need for the new forest strategy to foster a European circular bioeconomy and the sustainability of Europe’s forests to achieve the 2050 climate neutrality target. However, Cepi does not see the coherence between different policies addressing and impacting forests in the proposed strategy.

Veracel Celulose S.A., pulp producer in Brazil and part of paper producer Stora Enso, has commissioned Voith to upgrade its Quality Control System (QCS) of scanner and sensors for the company’s PDM 1 in Eunapólis, Brazil.

Körber introduces Warm-Up Contactless, a hot embossing system for greater product volumes, which does not require modifications of the embossing rolls and does not use liquids at high temperatures. Körber has found a solution to market challenges with a safe product that saves time, energy, and space.

Valmet will supply the ninth tissue line delivery, including an extensive automation package, to Turkish tissue producer Hayat Kimya. The company has decided to invest in a new tissue machine at their new mill in Russia, with a target to meet the increasing demand for their high-quality tissue products. The new line will add 70,000 tons of tissue to their current production of facial, toilet and towel tissues. The start-up is planned for the end of 2022.

Andritz Inc. has been selected by Domtar Corporation to provide equipment and technical services for conversion of a power boiler and a recovery boiler at their Kingsport paper mill, in Kingsport, TN, USA. This mill will be converted into Domtar’s first packaging facility.

GrandBay Group placed an order with Toscotec for one Ahead 2.2L complete tissue line to be installed at its subsidiary Papelera Internacional in Rio Hondo Zacapa, Guatemala. The start-up is scheduled for late 2022.

Sappi Europe announces a price increase for all its woodfree coated, uncoated and mechanical coated paper grades by no less than 10% across all European markets. The increase will be applied with immediate effect on all new business and latest by 1 October depending on current agreements.

The European pulp and paper industry fully supports the EU objective to reach climate neutrality by 2050. But the presented today “Fit for 55” legislative package is an incomplete toolbox. Cepi calls on co-legislators to give strong political support to measures that enable our sector to contribute – with decarbonised production, product substitution and sustainable forest management – to reaching the 2030 goals.

On July 7th, Kipas Kagit successfully started up the first production line for board and packaging papers at its Söke site in western Turkey. As a full-line supplier, Voith supplied the entire plant with the latest production and automation technologies. The new PM 2 features a very wide production and basis weights range.

In Russia, the demand for innovative, high-quality tissue products, including disposable items following the pandemic, has increased significantly in recent years. For this reason, Syassky PPM, an important paper mill in Russia, already active in the Roll sector, has decided to expand its product portfolio by relying on Körber Business Area Tissue’s Fold division.

On July 2, 2021 Valmet Oyj and Neles Corporation announced that their respective Boards of Directors have signed a combination agreement and a merger plan to combine the two companies through a merger. The combined company will be a leading company with a unique offering for process industries globally. The name of the company will be Valmet Oyj.

By Pasi Laine, President and CEO, Valmet.

ABB has successfully completed the commissioning of the Induction xP Plus profiler system on PM3 at Bilt Graphic Paper Products Limited (BGPPL), Ballarpur, India, with remote support from China. Marking the first time that an ABB cross machine direction control engineer has provided remote commissioning support for an upgrade of this kind, the modernization project was successfully and seamlessly delivered due to the world-class domain expertise of the team.

International technology group Andritz is supplying major energy-efficient and environmentally friendly pulp production technologies and key process equipment for Bracell’s Project “Star” in the city of Lençóis Paulista, São Paulo state, Brazil.

With the slowing down of the European economy and the sanitary restrictions, European paper and board consumption decreased by 5.3% in 2020 compared to 2019, totalling 71 million tonnes. Cepi members produced 85.2 million tonnes of paper and board, a decrease of 4.8% compared to 2019. This downward trend was observed in many other parts of the world, namely the US, Japan, Brazil and Canada.

Toscotec will supply a third-generation design TT SYD Steel Yankee Dryer to the South Korean tissue manufacturer Mirae Paper at their Jeonju paper mill. This is a repeat order from Mirae Paper who installed their first TT SYD on PM3 in 2013. The new steel Yankee will replace PM2’s existing cast-iron cylinder and it is scheduled for start-up in the second half of 2022.

Voith has received another order to build and supply a complete paper production line. The pulp and paper manufacturer Asia Symbol commissioned Voith to supply the BM 13 board machine for the Rugao site, located 180 km north-west of Shanghai, China.

Valmet has completed the acquisition of EWK Umwelttechnik GmbH and ECP Group Oy following the agreements that were announced on June 10. EWK Umwelttechnik is a German company manufacturing and supplying air emission control systems and after-installation services. ECP Group is a manufacturer and maintainer of electrostatic precipitators (ESP), focusing on power plants and pulp and paper industry, in Finland.

Holmen’s paper mill in Hallstavik, Sweden, has received its fifth PulpEye online pulp analyser which makes the mill the biggest PulpEye user in the world. The first one came in 2006 and the fifth has just arrived at the mill.

bio-fibre news

Stora Enso’s pilot facility for producing bio-based carbon materials from lignin has started operations. This follows the company’s EUR 10 million investment announced in 2019. Pilot production of Lignode^® by Stora Enso, wood-based carbon for batteries, is currently being ramped up. Applications include electric vehicles and consumer electronics as well as large-scale energy storage systems.

Valmet will deliver a complete turnkey BioPower 5 power plant to produce green electricity and heat for the city of Salzburg, Austria. The order was placed by Salzburg AG, a leading Austrian energy and technology company. The order is included in Valmet’s orders received of the third quarter 2021. The value of the order is not disclosed. The plant will be commissioned and started up in August 2023.