Pulp, Paper & Logistics May/June 2022

VOLUME 12 NUMBER 72

MAY/JUNE 2022

LOGISTICS: Hybrid ro-ro ship delivered to Finnlines Page 8

PULPAPER 2022

ABB

ANDRITZ

PU LP & PAPE R

CONCE NTR ATE D PE RFORMANCE IN A VE RY COMPACT DESIGN TwinFlo Prime REFINER

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• Simplified and fast change of bearing- and sealing unit • Safe and environmentally friendly operation without oil

Visit ANDRITZ.COM/TF-PRIME or contact us for further information: mech.pulp@andritz.com

INDUSTRY NEWS IN THIS ISSUE IN THIS ISSUE

Pulp Paper & Logistics

COMMENT

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elcome to the May issue of Pulp Paper & Logistics, at a time when demand for

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LOGISTICS

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sustainably-produced packaging has never been stronger.

The industry is increasing expenditure on R&D, targeting key

areas of packaging grade production.

Hybrid ro-ro ship delivered to Finnlines

Responding to consumers who want to use less plastic, manufacturers of paper-based packaging are also pushing investment in the design and the recyclability of their products.

The global move away from plastic has also seen the major

PULPAPER 2022

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Networking opportunities return in Helsinki

mills increase capacity to meet this rising demand, and this has also driven some mill owners to also make significant investments in refits to improve energy efficiency and their carbon footprint.

Moving mills closer to autonomous operation

Recycling of raw materials and their reuse is without doubt the key to achieving a circular economy for the future, with fibre and paper innovations playing a significant role in the replacement of plastics in many sectors. We report in this issue

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ANDRITZ Essity’s circular innovation

that corrugated carton recycling has reached a rate of 91.4 per cent in the US, way ahead of other packaging materials in that market, so we’ve got the wind behind us.

Environmental impact is a growing factor when selecting a

CFE NORDIC

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PRODUCTS & SERVICES

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PROJECTS & CONTRACTS

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PEOPLE

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The core handling revolution

product – both at government and consumer levels – for plastic replacement, but whilst the transition to the circular economy will not be achieved overnight, we are heading in the right direction.

Finally, should you be attending the PulPaper show in Helsinki and want to arrange a meeting please email me as soon as possible.

Vince Maynard, Publisher

Vol. 12 Issue No. 72, May/June 2022 ISSN 2045-8622 (PRINT) PUBLISHER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Vince Maynard Tralee, Hillcrest Road, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6JS, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1732 505724 Mobile: +44 (0) 7747 002286 Email: pulppaperlogistics@virginmedia.com CONSULTANT EDITOR David Young Tel: +44 (0) 1737 551687 Mobile: +44 (0) 7785 796826

EDITOR John Nutting Email: johnnutting47@gmail.com REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE Einar Johansson Tel: +46 8 540 255 15 Mobile: 0046 70 234 80 85 Email: einar.lennart@gmail.com

PRINTER Brown Knight and Truscott Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 3BW United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1892 511678

PRODUCTION Anthony Wiffen ASTAC Business Publishing Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 1460 261011 Mobile: +44 (0) 7557 280 769 Email: anton_print_1@mac.com May/June 2022

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Pulp Paper & Logistics

Forest and paper industry in US calls for resistance to EPR

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he American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA ) warns that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) activity is heating up in a number of US states and calls for resistance to new regulations that could impact the industry.

“Consistently high recycling rates, continuous industry investments and ongoing efforts to promote voluntary recycling are proof that EPR is not the right policy approach for sustainable paper products,” the AF&PA said in a statement issued in May. One example is the bill passed by the Colorado Senate Finance Committee. The bill, HB 22-1355, would effectively shift costs of recycling from local government to manufacturers, distributors, and Coloradans.

AF&PA plans to request more helpful amendments to the bill to reduce harm to the

industry and calls for industry professionals to tweet Colorado policymakers to tell them to vote no to the bill.

In New York, the AF&PA hosted a virtual advocacy day with key state policymakers to highlight the achievements of the forest products industry as environmental stewards. “We also advocated against EPR for Paper and Packaging and the New York Deforestation-Free Procurement bills, among other issues,” said AF&PA, which added that the NY legislature is expected to adjourn for the 2022 session in June and it will keep engaged with policymakers and its members on the key issues.

In the White House on Earth Day, President Biden announced an executive order (EO) that was aimed at strengthening America’s forests, boosting wildfire resilience, and combatting global deforestation.

AF&PA says this matters because the EO directs the USDA and the Department of Interior to develop climatesmart management for old growth forests. It also focuses on international deforestation, which builds on the administration’s plan to conserve global forests, critical carbon sinks and its commitment to combating illegal logging.

The EO is under review by AF&PA, which will determine the next steps on engagement.

Finally, the forest and paper industry in North America is being impacted by service problems in the railroad system.

As part of a push for rail freight reform, Julie Landry, the AF&PA’s director of government affairs, testified to the Surface Transportation Board (STB). In her testimony, Landry explained how an efficient and reliable rail service is critical for the AF&PA’s

member companies. The railroad companies attribute the service problems to worker shortages and high demand.

Landry also expressed how updating the STB’s policies would help level the playing field for the forest and paper industry and give it the same tools that other shippers already have at their disposal.

AF&PA says it will continue to update the STB and Congress on the rail service issues the forest and paper industry is experiencing. The expectation is that the STB will propose data collection about rail service metrics or possibly try to address the crisis in the short term with new rules. ● The paper recycling rate in the US rose to 68 per cent in 2021, reports the AF&PA, up from about 48 per cent in 2001.

The rate for cardboard boxes was 91.4 per cent.

Mondi strengthens its position in Egypt’s paper bag market Mondi Paper Bags has expanded in Egypt with the acquisition of the bag converting lines of National Bag and Egypt Sack, two subsidiaries of Lafarge Cement Egypt, a major cement producer in the country.

The production lines will increase Mondi’s capacity by around 150-180 million bags a year and strengthen its position in the Egyptian paper bag market.

Mondi Paper Bags already operates two plants in Egypt and May/June 2022

Mondi will be supplying paper bags to Lafarge Cement Egypt with this acquisition will become a key supplier of paper bags to Lafarge Cement Egypt.

Claudio Fedalto, operations

chief at Mondi Paper Bags, which is part of Mondi Group, a leading global packaging and paper manufacturer, said:

“Lafarge Cement Egypt is part of leading global building material company Holcim Group who has been a key global customer of Mondi Paper Bags for years.

We are excited to have signed a long-term supply agreement with Lafarge Cement Egypt and to servicing them locally in Egypt.”

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Smurfit Kappa builds first plant in Morocco

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ork has started on Smurfit Kappa’s first corrugated plant in Morocco.

The €35 million investment is at Rabat where a ceremony was held to lay the first foundation at the end of May. Start-up is expected early in 2023.

The 25,000 sqm plant will make paper-based packaging for sectors including industrial, agriculture, FMCG, automotive, pharma and ceramics and serve both local customers and multinationals based in Morocco.

Saverio Mayer, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa Europe, said: “We are very proud to announce the construction of this advanced new facility, the first of its

Mounir Naciri, general manager of Smurfit Kappa Morocco (left) and Ignacio Sevillano, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa, Spain, Portugal & Morocco (right) pictured at the site of the new corrugated plant kind owned by the company in Morocco. It will be located in

an area with significant growth potential and create 300 direct

and indirect jobs in the region.”

Ignacio Sevillano, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa Spain, Portugal and Morocco, added: “We are delighted that the first stone has been laid – an important milestone for the project. This investment is a reflection of our ‘think global, act local’ approach which combines our global scale and expertise with our local team’s best-in-class knowledge to understand and satisfy our Moroccan customers’ needs.

“The new plant will also incorporate an Experience Centre, our 30th worldwide, which will foster enhanced collaboration with our customers and provide creative ideas and insights.”

INVESTING IN GREEN FUTURE

finnlines.com Finnlines operates numerous routes and vessels all the year round between the main ports in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and Finland.

In-house transhipments of all types of commodities to and from the Mediterranean, West Africa, North and South America with Grimaldi and ACL. May/June 2022

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Environmental activist Felix Finkbeiner to attend Zellcheming

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he programme for Zellcheming Expo 2022, which is being held in Germany at the RheinMain Congress Center in Wiesbaden from 29 June to 1 July, will include presentations that address current approaches of the paper and cellulose fibre-based industry on the way to a climatefriendly bio-economy.

“We are very pleased that we have already been able to finalise the planning of the programme for the event, which we are all looking forward to with great anticipation,” explains Petra Hanke, managing director of Zellcheming Service GmbH. “We expect a very high utilisation with participants and exhibitors who will offer a top-class lecture framework for it.”

Felix Finkbeiner, founder of Plant-for-the-Planet, will be at Zellcheming Expo 2022. Image: David Bolley, Plant-for-thePlanet The Expo follows the Zellcheming Conference on Cellulose-Based Materials being held from 26-29 June.

After a two-year break, Zellcheming Expo 2022 starts on 29 June with a panel discussion entitled ‘Awareness for sustainable products’ in which Dr ErnstUlrich Wittmann, chairman of

Zellcheming, expects politicians and association representatives to be joined by, among others, environmental activist Felix Finkbeiner, founder of ‘Plant for the Planet’.

Finkbeiner founded the global environmental protection movement, which to date has inspired more than 92,000 children in 75 countries to support its goals, in 2008 at the age of nine. At 13, he spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York. He has since been awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the International Westphalian Peace Prize for his commitment.

On the second day, highlights include the Women4Paper meeting, which is aimed at women in the pulp and paper industry.

Four years after its founding during Zellcheming Expo 2018, the network already includes nearly 300 female representatives of the industry. Gabriele Diewald, Professor of German Linguistics at Leibniz University, will make the keynote address, which will focus on the topic of ‘Genderequitable language’ followed by keynote presentation by a number of women professionals, along with the official launch of the Women4Paper mentoring programme.

The third day will be devoted to ‘Energy, Environment, Climate’ with the session moderated by Prof Dr Helga Zollner-Croll, vice chair of Zellcheming. An overview of the programme is at: https://bit. ly/3w46suX

IP’s Pine Hill containerboard mill wins sustainability award Speciality chemical supplier Solenis LLC has recognised International Paper’s containerboard mill at Pine Hill in Alabama as winner of its 2021 Sustainability Award.

The installation of an ultrasonic bed depth monitor and chemical automation on the plant’s raw water clarifier resulted in annual water savings of 1.3 million gallons.

The Solenis Sustainability Award recognizes specific and verifiable customer projects that have delivered meaningful, measurable results against one of five sustainability indicators – reduced water use, reduced energy use, improved carbon footprint, reduced waste and optimised raw May/June 2022

material use.

Installing the new monitor helped the facility save water, but it also decreased consumption of polymer flocculant, cutting chemical transportation costs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2,000 tons per year.

“Our collaboration with Solenis has enabled our facility to implement a small change that has led to enormous impact,” said Vern Gomonit, an area process manager at International Paper.

“We often talk about the IP Way – doing the right things, in the right ways, for the right reasons, all of the time. This award demonstrates our commitment to the IP Way and how, working together, we can

Doing things the IP Way paid off at the Pine Hill containerboard mill meet our sustainability goals.”

After installing the monitor, Pine Hill was able to eliminate one to two mill water upsets per month and to eliminate polymer over- and under-dose issues.

The savings linked to the project were: Sulphuric acid (lb active), 105,000; Caustic (lb active), 96,000; Pretreated water (gallons), 1.3m; Natural gas (cubic ft): 3.2m; Black

liquor (solid lb), 440,000; and carbon dioxide emissions (tons/ year), 2,000. ● Solenis has been selected as a 2022 US Best Managed Company in a scheme sponsored by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal.

The programme recognises outstanding private US companies and the achievements of their management teams.

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Smurfit Kappa launches recyclable water-resistant paper

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sustainable waterresistant paper has been launched by Smurfit Kappa as part of its TechniPaper portfolio.

AquaStop resists water due to a special coating that enables it to be recycled in the same way as standard paper-based packaging.

The paper is said to be particularly suitable for use in humid conditions as the box remains intact while protecting the contents, making it suitable for the transport and storage of refrigerated products where there is exposure to condensation.

Product development chief at

Smurfit Kappa’s Paper Division, Lars Henriksson, said: “Our product development team, along with our colleagues in Spain, have created something very special that has superior functionality, whilst at the same time remaining 100 per cent recyclable.”

Smurfit Kappa’s AquaStop resists exposure to condensation

BASF to wind down activities in Russia and Belarus After stopping business in Russia from 3 March, chemicals supplier to the pulp and paper industry BASF SE has decided to also wind down its remaining business activities in Russia and Belarus by

the beginning of July. Exempt from this decision is business to support food production, as the war risks triggering a global food crisis.

This decision is driven by the recent developments of the war

and in international law, including the fifth EU sanctions package.

Currently, 684 employees work for BASF in Russia and in Belarus, who will be supported until end of 2022.

Detailed plans for an orderly

cessation of BASF’s business in Russia and Belarus are currently being developed. In 2021, Russia and Belarus accounted for around 1 per cent of BASF Group’s total sales.

May/June 2022

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Pulp Paper & Logistics

Stora Enso to exit Russia, and to sell four paper mills in Europe

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tora Enso has divested its three corrugated packaging plants in Russia – at Lukhovitsy, Arzamas and Balabanovo – to local management. In an unrelated move that addresses demand changes, the Swedish company is also planning to sell four paper making plants in Europe.

The paper packaging maker said that due to the uncertainties in the Russian market, local ownership and operation of the three plants will provide a more sustainable long-term future for the businesses and their employees.

The move followed Stora Enso’s announcement on 2 March, a few days after the attacks on

Ukraine, that it would stop all production and sales in Russia. In April Stora Enso announced the divestment of its two sawmills and forest operations in Russia to local management.

The divestment of the corrugated packaging plants will have “no material impact” on its annual sales, the company said. And due to the reduced prospects of the businesses, a loss of €35 million was recorded in the first quarter results.

Stora Enso added that there will also be a loss of about €55 million, consisting mainly of currency translation adjustments to be recorded at the closing date.

The three plants employ about 620 and have capacity

to produce 395 million sqm of corrugated packaging for grocery, home improvement, confectionery and pet food segments in the domestic market in Russia.

The four paper making plants in Europe to be sold are at Anjala in Finland, Hylte and Nymölla in Sweden, and Maxau in Germany, and are said to be high-quality sites for paper and pulp production with strong infrastructure, and skilled and experienced staff.

Reason for the decision is because Stora Enso doesn’t see paper as a strategic growth area.

Its focus for long-term growth is in renewable products in packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations.

Sales at Smurfit Kappa up by a third as it pulls out of Russia As Smurfit Kappa reported sales up by a third in the first quarter of 2022, at €3.2 billion, and corrugated box growth of 3.6 per cent, the Irelandbased paper packaging maker revealed that it was pulling out of Russia.

The group had already suspended support for its operations in Russia including imports and exports and any funding, following the attacks on Ukraine.

In a statement Smurfit Kappa Group said: “This exit will be effected in an orderly manner, during which we will continue to pay our employees and fulfil our legal obligations. Our Russian May/June 2022

Shelf-ready packaging producer Atlas has been acquired by Smurfit Kappa business represents less than 1 per cent of forecasted sales.

“Smurfit Kappa stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and everyone impacted by the totally unjustified attack on

Ukraine and its people. The group is providing, and will continue to provide, substantial humanitarian support for the Ukrainian people.

Commenting on the financial results, group chief executive

Chief executive Annica Bresky explained: “Through divesting a majority of our paper assets, we are able to increase the focus on our defined strategic growth areas of renewable packaging, building solutions and biomaterials innovations.

When assessing potential divestment options, we look for new ownership that will provide a sustainable long-term future for the sites and the people that work there.”

Stora Enso isn’t committing itself to target dates for the sites which could be sold in one or a series of deals, and the process will have no effect on its paper making operations. Its mill at Langerbrugge site in Belgium will be retained.

Tony Smurfit said: ““The first quarter presented a number of significant operational challenges.

Practically all input costs have risen sharply and already tight markets and supply chains have been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. Our integrated and resilient business model has ensured security of supply in this increasingly complex environment. I am deeply proud of how our people have responded and are delivering for customers in these exceptional times.”

Two recent acquisitions include Argencraft, a corrugated facility located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which complements existing operations there, and Atlas Packaging in the UK. Atlas has strong presence in shelf-ready packaging, gift boxing and the e-commerce sector.

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UPM celebrates its 150th anniversary

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innish forestry industry specialist UPM is celebrating 150 years of paper making since it was founded on the banks of the Kuusankoski, Valkeakoski and Pori rivers in the 19th century.

A number of events have been organised to mark the anniversary of UPM, which expanded over the years with the combination of companies such as Kymi, United Paper Mills, Kaukas, Kajaani, Schauman, Rosenlew, RaumaRepola and Raf. Haarla.

The Verla groundwood mill and the Kymi and Kuusankoski paper mills began their operations in 1872. Seikku sawmill was established in Pori, as well as the groundwood mill and paper mill in Valkeakoski in same year.

Production at Valkeakoski began the following year.

Of these historic mills, Verla is now a museum which, in addition to its 150th anniversary, celebrates its 50th anniversary as a museum and 25 years as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The Verla mill museum, restaurant, exhibitions and shops are open until 30 September.

The museum, including the groundwood and board mill, are explored only with a guide, and tickets for the tour can be

UPM’s groundwood mill opened in 1872 is now a museum purchased in the museum’s online store in advance.

An exhibition entitled ‘The Turn of the Tree’ has opened in Kotka at the Vellamo Maritime Centre. The exhibition offers a journey to the roots of the forest industry and a view into the future, which is also presented by UPM’s biomedical products and biofuel innovations.

On 7 June the Kymenlaakso Chamber of Commerce will hold a ‘Löysin vaihto – Kymenlaakso forest industry 150 years’ seminar

in Kuusankoski. Jussi Pesonen, chief executive of UPM, will be one of the guest speakers at the invitation-only seminar. ● UPM has completed the sale of its assets at the Chapelle Darblay newsprint mill site to the community of Rouen. UPM had already stopped production and agreed a social plan for its employees at the mill in GrandCouronne in June 2020. UPM had originally committed to selling the site to a consortium of two partners, Samfi and Paprec France SAS, in October 2021.

The community of Rouen then pre-empted the sale of the land and buildings in February 2022, cancelling the sale to Samfi and Paprec France SAS. UPM says it will remain committed to the French newsprint market and will continue close collaboration with its partners and customers in France.

News in Brief c The Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá) is collaborating with the Metro system in São Paulo to encourage the free exchange of books at six stations. Paulo Hartung, president of Ibá, launched the initiative at the Trianon-Masp station with Milton Gioia, director of the São Paulo Metro. The campaign hopes to raise awareness about the sustainability of paper.

c The dates for Tissue World Düsseldorf next year will be 28-30 March 2023 at the Messe Düsseldorf in Germany.

The organisers commented: “Following a successful return of Tissue World Miami this year, we’re looking forward to opening our doors once more to the tissue industry for three days of networking at our exhibition and conference next March.” c The European Tissue Symposium (ETS) was promoting the interests of the industry at the Interclean show held the RAI in Amsterdam in May. Interclean Amsterdam, the largest professional cleaning community in the world, welcomed leading manufacturers and professionals in the cleaning and hygiene industry from around the globe.

May/June 2022

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Hybrid ro-ro ship delivered to Finnlines

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he first of three new ‘hybrid’ ro-ro ships which have cargo decks dedicated to handling paper reels has been delivered in China to Finnlines.

The vessel has bigger capacity than current ships at Finnlines while having reduced emissions, which lowers to zero in port, and is classified as ‘Green Plus’.

Finneco I was handed over at the China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in April and was due to enter service in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Biscay traffic in June 2022.

It is the first vessel in the €500 million Newbuilding Programme at Finnlines. Concept May/June 2022

Planning started in 2018 and the target was to create the most environmentally-friendly vessel operated in the Baltic Sea. The construction of the two sister vessels has also progressed. The second, Finneco II, was launched in August 2021, the third, Finneco III, in November 2021.

The Newbuilding Programme at Finnlines also includes two eco-sustainable Superstar ro-pax vessels scheduled to be delivered in 2023.

Compared with the largest vessels in the Finnlines fleet, the cargo carrying capacity of the hybrid newbuilds will increase by nearly 40 per cent. In practice, the vessel can carry around 400

trailers per voyage.

Efficient cargo operations will be ensured by an arrangement of stern ramps, internal ramps, and hoistable car decks, while certain areas on the cargo decks have been dedicated for loading of paper reels.

To improve their environmental performance, the vessels feature two-stroke main engines, which have a lower specific fuel consumption than four-strokes.

An air lubrication system under the keel will reduce frictional and hydrodynamic resistance and consequently reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Zero emissions while in port are achieved with a 5MW battery

Hybrid ro-ro Finneco I, pictured with its sister vessels at the shipyard, will enter service in June power bank which is recharged during sailing using 600sqm of solar panels. An exhaust gas cleaning system will cut air emissions and reduce harmful particles.

“We welcome Finneco I into our fleet,” says Emanuele Grimaldi, chief executive of Finnlines.

“The ship will be larger and more eco-friendly than any roro vessel in the Baltic Sea. The vessel will play an important role in ensuring a reliable supply of goods to and from Finland and our connections to Europe will improve greatly when the vessel starts to operate in Finnlines’ Baltic Sea, North Sea and Biscay traffic.”

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Pulp Paper & Logistics

Networking opportunities return in Helsinki PulPaper 2022 returns to Helsinki in June after being delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but better than ever. PPL reports

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ulPaper 2022, being held from Tuesday to Thursday 7-9 June at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre in Finland, will in addition to around 250 forest-industry exhibitors offer networking opportunities at the PulPaper Conference.

New is the Green Economy Business Summit, and a wide range of presentations at the Future Square Stage. ChemBio Finland and Helsinki Chemicals Forum will be held at the same time.

With the theme of ‘Building Tomorrow’s Bioeconomy’, PulPaper 2022, which is free of charge to professionals in the sector, introduces presentations from companies such as Stora Enso, Metsä Group, UPM, and Sappi.

The PulPaper Conference and the Green Economy Business Summit, which both require a separate entrance ticket, will be organised in connection with the event. Excursions to VTT, Bioruukki, and UPM Kymi will be arranged on Wednesday 6 June.

“The events are very important for professionals within the trade. After a long break, we want to organise a meeting place where the visitors have the possibility to study the development within the branch, new products, and information,” says business manager Marcus Bergström from Messukeskus. “The forest industry event PulPaper 2022 was postponed from March to June to make networking

opportunities better. We are now looking forward to the upcoming event.”

Six themes in PulPaper Conference The themes of the PulPaper Conference are IT and Automation, Environment and Sustainability, Safety and Risk Management, New Textile Products, Efficiency, and Packaging Solutions.

The conference will open with three keynote speeches.

The first will be presented by Hannu Kasurinen, executive vice president of the packaging materials division at Stora Enso.

The second keynote is ‘Sustainability leading company strategy’ and presented by Riikka Joukio, director of corporate

PulPaper 2022 in June will provide new opportunities for networking with industry colleagues May/June 2022

responsibility and public relations at Kesko. Third keynote speaker is Roland Lorenz, head of management consulting from AFRY, who will talk on the topic ‘Changes in consumer behaviour following the Covid pandemic’.

After opening speeches, conference will continue in two parallel sessions with three topical expert presentations on each of six themes. PulPaper Conference 2022 partners are Andritz and Sulzer.

New Green Economy Business Summit The Green Economy Business Summit on 8 June will target corporate management and stakeholders. With a programme prepared in cooperation with the forest-based and chemical

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Pulp Paper & Logistics

Leading paper makers will be at PulPaper 2022 in Helsinki industries, the keynote ‘Circular bioeconomy – a sustainable source of growth’ is presented by president of Sitra Jyrki Katainen.

A second keynote is presented

by Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Industry and Internal Market from the EU Commission, who will in a video presentation cover sustainability and climate change. Breton will be introduced by Kristin Schreiber, director at the European Commission who leads the

directorate ecosystems in DG GROW. She will also respond to any questions raised by the keynote speech.

The Summit also includes a panel discussion on the topic ‘How to reach sustainability and climate neutrality at company level’ with Metsä Group’s director general Ilkka Hämälä, managing director of Borealis Polymers Salla Roni-Poranen, VTT’s executive vice president Jussi Manninen, and Unilever’s homecare

R&D chief Mike Parkington as panelists.

Meet startup companies at PulPaper The ‘startup competition’ on 8 June looks for the most promising and potential growth companies in the forest bioeconomy field. The PulPaper Award will be presented to a Finnish company that has developed an innovation which is expected to offer a positive image for the industry and from which an

New technologies will be on the agenda at PulPaper 2022 with technical staff on hand to explain them

internationally significant product or service can be developed.

The winner will receive a €5,000 prize funded by the Finnish Fair Foundation.

The New Wood project New Wood has its own stand at PulPaper. The goal of the New Wood project is to increase awareness of the wood-based bioeconomy; highlighting new and existing products and solutions, exploring their impact on society and offering expert perspectives on the outlook for this innovative industry.

Comprising more than 20 Finnish organisations, New Wood is a community that promotes the wood-based bioeconomy and provides information to influencers and political decision-makers about the significance and value of woodbased products. The New Wood product 2022 will be announced at PulPaper Future Square on 7 June.

Visitors are able to register for PulPaper free of charge at www. pulpaper.fi.

Messukeskus is organising the PulPaper 2022 show in cooperation with The Finnish Forest Products Engineers’ Association.

May/June 2022

12 ABB

Pulp Paper & Logistics

Moving mills closer to autonomous operation

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ulp and paper producers are under constant pressure to reduce the costs of production and maintenance, maximise uptime and maintain high quality. As such, there is a greater appetite – and demand May/June 2022

Advanced process controls are now being used in almost every aspect of pulp and paper production, as explained by Abhay Anand* – for the many ways in which producers can benefit from digital technologies by bridging the gap that has traditionally existed

between information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT).

Digitalisation should be

an important part of every company’s strategy to move the pulp and paper industry towards autonomous operations, driving

ABB 13

Pulp Paper & Logistics

3There are many inputs at the wet end, which can affect process stability. Any changes to fillers, retention aids, and broke will have a profound impact on the efficiency of paper machine. Highly interacting processes requires a multivariable approach, such as Wet End Control, to factor in all chemicals to stabilise white water consistency for the integration of economic optimisation strategies to help lower production costs as well as greater adaptation to changes in targets or seasonal conditions, for example.

APC solutions today are already proving to be versatile with an extended functionality that can adapt not only to a target but to a range as well, allowing the best operating regime to be found.

This ultimately leads to significant savings without compromising on quality.

Adapting APC for the complexities of pulp and paper processes

productivity and profitability improvements. Advanced Process Control (APC) is increasingly being used by mills as an enabler in their digital transformation. It serves as a link between lowlevel automation systems and higher-level management such as

production planning systems.

APC has become indispensable to many operators today and many more developments are likely to follow in the next few years to help mills stay competitive. The implementation of flexible APC solutions allows

One of the fundamental tools in any APC is model predictive control (MPC), which is a set of algorithms for feedback and feed-forward control based on a process model. While MPC has been around since the 1980s, it is relatively new for the pulp and paper industry – in large part due to the complexities of the process.

Kraft pulping, for example, has many interacting processes, varying dynamics, and conflicting objectives, and is extremely difficult to model and control. It can also be easily disturbed by many factors such as raw material quality, equipment age and the ambient weather.

Over the years, ABB has developed additional tools to further optimise process automation and make APC into a more robust and adaptable form, leading to easier and more successful adoption for pulp and paper processes. Areas where ABB’s APC solutions have been

ABB’s Abhay Anand: “bridging the gap that has traditionally existed between information technology and operations technology” successfully implemented include pulp digesters, brown stock washers, bleach plants, lime kilns, causticisers, and multi-effect evaporators as well as paper machines. Process variability can be significantly reduced, creating savings in energy and chemicals, and often reducing downtime and maintenance costs. In integrated pulp and paper mills, having APC modules in the pulp mill ensures a continuous stream of high-quality pulp to the paper machine. This makes the work of the paper machine controls easier and allows the mill to focus on cost reduction and efficiency improvement without having to worry about disturbances due to changes in pulp quality.

One critical development has been the inclusion of virtual measurements when physical measurements are infrequent or not available. Also known as soft sensors, these calculated measurements are particularly valuable in the pulp and paper industry where many processes are notoriously difficult to measure. Take for example ABB’s 4 May/June 2022

14 ABB

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How the various advanced process control systems are applied in a pulp mill by ABB Kappa Virtual Measurement, which estimates Kappa in the cooking zone of a digester, where it is impossible to physically measure Kappa, providing more visibility into the pulp quality across the cooking plant.

With more frequent Kappa measurements, the APC can make immediate corrections to create more even cooking. The results of these changes are also immediately visible in the calculations.

ABB offers additional tools to further optimise process automation, such as Pulp Tracking and Constraint Management.

Pulp Tracking is a way to chart the movement of key pulp properties throughout the process, such as moisture content in wood chips, pulp conductivity in brown stock washers, or pulp brightness in bleaching. These variables are tracked in space and time up to the location of interest, with the insights used to build models for various APC modules across the mill. If off-spec pulp is produced for a short while at the digester, for example, the system can predict when this slug of pulp will reach the various bleaching stages and adjust bleaching parameters May/June 2022

accordingly.

Constraint Management is a concept patented by ABB which dynamically calculates high and low limits for the APC variables.

It uses tracking in coordination with predictive controls to help processes that are typically characterised by non-linearity, slow dynamics, and high interactions amongst key process variables. This approach ensures that the APC can adapt to varying process conditions and maintain tight control which otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

APC pulp and paper applications ABB has found that there are three critical factors when successfully implementing APC into any process: 1. Having accurate sensors, robust actuators, and a reliable distributed control system (DCS) in place is critical. These are the foundation on which the APC is delivered and if the measurement system or DCS is not up to scratch, the APC will not be able to deliver the expected benefits.

2. Ability to combine operational data with process knowledge is paramount. Ensuring that

the APC is not a black box but can incorporate the operators’ experience into its models along with the data-based models is key to achieving the targets with minimal efforts.

3. Transparency and ease of use is critical to get the operators’ buy-in. It is very important that the operators can relate with the decisions that the APC makes, visualise the predictions, and use the system intuitively for fast and efficient start-ups.

Once APC is implemented, it is equally important to continuously monitor performance and share key performance indicators.

In doing so, ABB believes that performance can be sustained, and even improved, over many years through close collaboration with a service-based model for long-term successes.

Following the evolution of these critical factors has resulted in APC being applied to many different processes. Take for example the lime kiln operation, which is one of the major consumers of energy in the kraft process and exhibits a lot of variability in energy use, quality and productivity.

Although the lime kiln process is straightforward in principle,

operators still face difficult issues such as low thermal efficiency, high fuel consumption, process delays, build-up of rings and dust, overheating of refractory, poor quality of lime and increased emissions. OPT800 Lime manages these challenges to achieve optimum control and efficient lime production.

The solution works to optimise lime production rates, reduce energy consumption and emissions, increase re-burned lime availability, decrease residual carbonate variations, and improve overall operation with increased visibility of the process.

It combines laboratory results by operators with MPC, thus getting the best of both approaches in a fully product-specific solution, with minimum need for on-site development. This enables tighter control of the lime production process, leading to more stable pulp mill operations.

Looking to the fibre line side of pulp mill operations, mills can achieve optimum pulp quality by leveraging APC in the cooking process. When ABB’s OPT800 Cook/C APC module is applied in a continuous pulp digester, it controls an estimated Kappa

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number in the cooking zone, residual alkali at the extraction stage, chip level in the digester and blow consistency. Typical results include reduced variability in the final Kappa number and reduced steam and alkali consumption, resulting in lower energy and bleaching costs.

Another example of APC implementation is on the wet end of a paper machine. Producing paper on a paper machine involves a series of highly complex processes and variation in any of these processes could lead to the formation of a defect in the sheet or a weakness in the paper web, eventually leading to a sheet break or rejection due to poor quality. Wet End Control helps to monitor and analyse the wet-end processes and can significantly reduce downtime, the usage of chemical additives and production costs, while maximising production.

Above and below: Automatically managing multiple variables significantly reduces variability and raw material usage while improving runnability

Delivering tangible results for customers Many mills recognise that implementing more than one APC module in a pulp mill can result in synergy and smoother operations, and as such are using multiple modules to get the maximum value from their process. One pulp mill in Asia installed APC modules in both the lime kiln and causticising operation, which are intimately linked in the kraft process, since lime from the kiln is added to the causticiser to prepare white liquor. In the lime kiln, variability in temperature and excess oxygen was reduced by 40 per cent along with an 8 per cent reduction in energy use. In the causticising operation, variability in causticising efficiency was reduced by 31 per cent, leading to an 11 per cent savings in lime consumption.

In one European pulp mill expansion project – which doubled the capacity of the mill – the owners chose to implement Pulp Tracking throughout as well as five APC modules, in the oxygen delignification, bleaching, brown stock washing, causticising and evaporation processes.

Another European customer first installed an ABB APC pulping module in their continuous digester 10 years ago and has hit new production and quality milestones with every update and adjustment since. Most recently, the mill achieved the best continuous digester performance

across the organisation – proof that long-term commitment to adapt to mill changes will continue to bear fruit. However, it doesn’t end there, and the mill is about to start on its next project to automate start-ups and shutdowns, avoiding the off-spec quality that can often result from handling these tasks manually. This shows that process optimisation is a never-ending journey.

Conclusion Focusing on digitalisation, and embracing APC as a key part of this, is a major opportunity

for pulp and paper mills aiming to remain competitive and efficient. Not only can APC help mills achieve smoother processes, but it can also make dynamic adjustments to changing variables to keep quality consistently high. This collective impact will truly shift pulp and paper towards autonomous operations, driving improvement of both productivity and profitability within the industry. *Abhay Anand is advanced process control, optimisation and data analytics specialist at ABB Pulp & Paper May/June 2022

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Essity’s circular innovation

E

ssity’s mission to produce morefrom-less drives an effort to integrate more ‘circularity’ into its business: from responsible raw material sourcing to more efficient production with a smaller climate footprint.

The latest example is its project to convert agricultural residue into bleached pulp and utilise it in high-quality tissue products. Andritz is a technology partner in making this happen.

Mannheim mill embarks on a unique project The Mannheim mill is Essity’s largest tissue facility in Europe May/June 2022

Late last year PPL magazine reported that Essity’s tissue mill in Germany had started using wheat straw as part of a plan to adopt more circularity into its operations. Here PPL expands in more detail the project’s world-leading objectives with capacity of 283,000 tonnes per annum (t/a). The mill, which was founded in 1884 as a producer of packaging products, has a long and varied history. The mill has for decades produced sulphite pulp on-site, which is unique in its own right. Adding to this, the mill has recently started up a new pulping process that will convert 70,000 t/a of regionally-sourced wheat straw into 35,000 t/a of bleached pulp.

“Wheat straw pulping is certainly not new,” says

Jim Haeffele, Essity’s vice president of technology, material breakthrough. “What is unique here is that this is the first large-scale use of bleached wheat straw for tissue production in the world.”

The wheat straw pulp is blended with the 220,000 t/a of long- and short-fibre wood pulp to produce a full range of tissue and towel grades, including the company’s Zewa brand which is a leader in Europe. Tissue and towel products are manufactured on Mannheim’s five tissue

machines (four conventional and one TAD).

Sustainable fibre source Essity signed a license agreement granting exclusive rights with an American company, Sustainable Fibre Technologies (SFT). SFT developed a proprietary process (the Phoenix Process) for pulping non-wood raw materials in a way that is environmentally friendly and delivers quality comparable to wood-based pulp at a competitive cost. In this way, Essity can reduce its climate

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The Mannheim mill is Essity’s largest tissue facility in Europe with capacity for 283,000 tonnes per annum

footprint and utilise a material formerly considered to be waste.

Technology partner Andritz

has been working with SFT for a number of years, supplying equipment for SFT’s pilot plant and some of the company’s commercial applications. As Markus Pichler, vice president for mechanical pulping systems with Andritz’s Paper, Fibre and Recycling Division, explains: “We have done extensive lab trials with SFT for various alternative raw materials at our pilot plants in Austria and the USA. That has led us to exclusively employ the Phoenix Process for pulping nonwood raw materials.”

That is why it was a “natural choice” according to Martin Wiens, factory and project manager for Mannheim’s wheat straw plant, to select Andritz to supply the main equipment.

This includes screening, cleaning, dewatering, chemical mixing, heating, bleach tower discharge, and refining systems. Mechanical installation, commissioning, and start-up supervision were also part of the scope of supply.

“We have developed unique processing technology that does

Markus Pichler, vice president for mechanical pulping systems with Andritz’s Paper, Fibre and Recycling Division: “The raw material is so different from wood fibres that it behaves differently in every machine from what was expected. We had to confirm our assumptions about pulp properties and fibre development for each process step.”

not exist anywhere else in the world,” Wiens says. “The design is based on the SFT/Andritz pilot work and together we managed to go from concept to reality in a little over two years. That is really impressive!”

Bleached quality for tissue For the uninitiated, wheat straw is considered an ‘agricultural residue’: cellulosic material that remains in the farmer’s field after a grain harvest. Up to about onethird of the residue can be tilled back into the field to maintain soil

integrity, but what to do with the rest? A portion is used for such things as animal bedding.

Haeffele and his colleagues began discussions with SFT in 2017 because Essity was looking to secure wheat straw pulp to replace old corrugated containers (OCC) due to instabilities in the recycled market at that time.

“Unbleached wheat straw pulp was being produced at commercial scale primarily for packaging grades, but the more that we discussed the process with Mark Lewis [founder and 4

Jim Haeffele, vice president of technology at Essity: “By converting agricultural residue into high-quality bleached pulp, we become more circular and can offer our consumers a tissue product with less climate impact”

Martin Wiens, factory and project manager at Essity’s Mannheim mill: “The design is based on the SFT/Andritz pilot work and together we managed to go from concept to reality in a little over two years. That is really impressive!”

May/June 2022

18 ANDRITZ chief executive of SFT] the more we began thinking about installing our own line for bleached wheat straw pulp,” he says.

Lewis was excited by the idea. “We looked forward to working with Essity and Andritz to prove out the pulping and bleaching processes on a largescale,” he says. “Pulp produced with our Phoenix Process has characteristics comparable to virgin hardwood pulp and superior to recycled fibre. The process uses significantly less energy, water, and chemicals than conventional wood pulping and is sulfur-free.”

Timeline The €40 million investment in the wheat straw plant was approved

by Essity’s board of directors in 2019 and construction began in May 2020. The plant started up in August 2021.

Project activities were performed in parallel, Wiens explains, to keep to an aggressive schedule. “We already had started erection while we were still finalising procurement of some of the equipment such as piping, equipment, etc,” he says.

As with almost every project, there were daily surprises in erecting and starting up Mannheim’s straw pulp plant.

“This mill has been in existence since 1884 and in excavating the site chosen for the wheat straw plant, we found old foundations, tunnels, and other structures which had to be removed and filled in,” Wiens says. “Construction occurred during the hottest summer and the coldest winter that we had experienced in Germany in many decades. Just to add to the challenge, we worked through the Covid-19 pandemic as well. Throughout it all, we May/June 2022

Pulp Paper & Logistics

prevailed and Andritz was a very professional and flexible partner.”

“Straw is not wood chips” In the run-up to the project, several trials for dewatering, refining, bleaching and the mixing behaviour of wheat straw were conducted at Andritz’s fibre preparation pilot plants in Austria and the USA. Pichler of Andritz notes, “We were of course familiar with the SFT process, but most of our trial work was at small scale. We needed to do extensive testing of the wheat straw to specify the correct machine sizing. We had to confirm our assumptions about pulp properties and fibre development at 100 tonnes per day scale.”

“The raw material is so different from wood fibres that it behaves differently in every machine from what was expected,” Pichler explains. “We had to confirm our assumptions about pulp properties and fibre development for each process step.”

Straw pulp was shipped from SFT’s pilot plant in the USA to Graz in Austria to run dry-crepe and structured (TAD) tissue trials at Andritz’s PrimeLine Tissue Innovation and Application Center, the world’s most modern tissue pilot plant.

“This facility brings together customers, suppliers, and R&D institutes in a very special way to create solutions,” Haeffele says. “Andritz’s approach to R&D is very sophisticated and professional.”

Even with the trials and pilot plant work, there have been surprises: some positive and some challenging. “Producing bleached wheat straw pulp of tissue-grade quality is complicated,” Haeffele explains. “Achieving wood-like characteristics for brightness

Andritz bleach tower discharger and MC pump and drainage from wheat straw is not a simple matter. It sounds simplistic, but straw is not wood chips. It has been a learning curve for sure.”

One of the most positive learnings so far is that the wheat straw pulp has excellent strength characteristics.

“We originally thought that it would be more of a hardwood replacement,” Haeffele explains, “but because of the high tensile characteristics, it is a suitable softwood replacement.”

The new cellulose made from straw is as soft, tear-resistant and highly absorbent as conventional cellulose made from wood fibres.

The pulping process uses less water, chemicals, and energy than wood fibre pulping.

Valuable byproducts A byproduct of the wheat straw processing at Mannheim is a lignin (minus the sulphur that is present in wood-based lignin which is produced in standard pulping technologies) that is valuable as a feedstock to produce biopolymers.

These biopolymers can replace oilbased chemicals in dust abatement, corrosion inhibitors, binders, feed, cement additives, and other specialty chemicals.

“This fits our more-fromless philosophy completely,”

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Andritz supplied most of the main equipment for the production of tissue from wheat straw Wiens says. “We don’t waste anything. We take what used to be agricultural waste and make tissue. From the byproducts, we could even make the packaging for our products – biobased, biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable. This is a real circular economy.”

New infrastructure requirements In developed countries, there is significantly more agricultural biomass available than wood biomass. In Europe, Essity estimates that about 15 million tonnes of wheat straw exists in each growing season.

The Mannheim mill is receiving its raw material from within a 300km radius around the mill, the same from which it would source its wood fibre, according

to Wiens. “Since this is a new fibre source for us, and since the fibre procurement is done once per year, we had to develop our own infrastructure for the centralised purchasing, gathering, storage, and transport of wheat straw,” he says.

The mill keeps about 1,500 tonnes – a five-day supply – at the

mill site. The remaining supply is stored at special facilities nearby.

Security and flexibility “There are many benefits to this project in terms of having an alternative fibre source that meets our sustainability ambitions while reducing our climate footprint

Essity at a glance Essity is a leading global hygiene and health products company that sells its products in more than 150 countries. Its largest markets by sales are the United States, Germany, China, France, UK, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Netherlands and Italy.

Its roots go back to 1849 and the Mölnlycke company which was acquired by SCA in 1929. More recently in 2017 SCA was separated into forest products under the SCA name and Essity for health, medical and hygiene products and services.

Listed on the Stockholm stock exchange Essity has 46,000 employees and global sales of SEK13.68bn (US$12.4bn).

and improving our cost efficiency,” Wiens says.

“Adding to our existing expertise in processing sustainable woodbased fresh fibre and recycled fibres, our growing expertise in processing alternative fibres gives us much more security and flexibility in sourcing. This will allow us to capitalise on fibre availability and pricing in the future.”

“Globally, half of all straw goes unused,” Haeffele adds. “By converting agricultural residue into high-quality bleached pulp, we become more circular and can offer our consumers a tissue product with less climate impact. Mannheim is showing that there is an alternative way to produce tissue. The world needs alternatives to meet the increasing consumption demands in developing countries.”

May/June 2022

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The core handling revolution Could the techniques used in the paper making industry for producing and handling cores be made more cost-effective? Karl-Henrik Axelsson* suggests a completely new concept

I

magine the savings that could be made if the paper industry was able to replace the traditional way of managing the production, storage and handling of cores.

What if a completely new and revolutionary process could be devised that enabled paper mills to produce their cores in-house and just-in-time only a few metres away from the winder?

Imagine the savings this could produce for the mill, and the savings for the environment?

For the last 50 years or so, the core handling process has been more or less unchanged. Cores are produced at some distant plant where they need to be stored until they have hardened enough to be loaded up on trucks and transported to the paper mill. At the paper mill, the cores have to be unloaded, stored in large volumes and finally cut into different lengths before they are transported to the winder and used to produce the desired width of paper rolls. This has been the standard for many years and mills have become accustomed to the costs that result from this.

The paper industry is not resistant to change. It knows that in Europe alone cardboard cores cost several hundred million euros per year, so mills are eager to find new ways to reduce the environmental impact, reduce the cost, improve the working environment and reduce the use of raw material. But if the traditional suppliers have nothing new to offer, what are the May/June 2022

Making paper roll cores as required using CFE Nordic’s ‘Lean core concept’ could save alternatives?

But now there is a new development in the pipeline, the ‘Lean core concept’.

‘Lean core concept’ Supported by Sweden’s innovation agency, Vinnova, CFE Nordic has been developing its patentpending ‘Lean core concept’ to meet these needs from the industry.

The ‘Lean core concept’ offers the possibility for paper mills to manufacture the cores themselves, adjacent to the winder only when cores are needed and to the precise length so the cores can be used directly in the winder.

The winder sends information to the core system as to which lengths of core are needed in the next time period. The system will then start to cut a preset number

of sheets from a paper roll and from these sheets the system will form a core with the desired thickness and diameter.

The core is then trimmed to the precise length and fed to the winder. The core does not need to be stored or hardened, because the idea is to use it immediately.

The process is repeated until the ordered number of cores has been made.

The ‘Lean core concept’ offers a number of advantages for the paper industry. There is need to purchase cores from a distant third-party core supplier, and cores have to be transported, often over long distances, before they reach the paper mill.

The ‘Lean core concept’ eliminates a lot of the problems mills are facing when managing a modern core handling system.

Problems such as lack of suitable

facilities and floor space, the need for large areas for storing cores and equipment, problems with logistics and trucks needing to have mill access for delivering truck load after truck load with cores. Then comes the question where to place all the equipment for cutting cores and transporting the cut cores to the winder.

Many of these challenges and problems will no-longer exist when using the ‘Lean core concept’. In contrast, the ‘Lean core concept’ offers a completely new way of thinking and managing the core handling of tomorrow and offers the possibility of automating the core handling even further. Automatic core handling offers cost savings, improved competitiveness, and a better working environment for staff.

What this adds up to is reduced

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cost: for a typical board mill, the cost reduction could be hundreds of thousands of euros, just focusing on the cost for cores.

But there are also a lot of other possible savings. For example, the floor space that is currently used for storing cores can better be used for more important activities.

Furthermore, the concept entails several environmental benefits, such as eliminating the energy consumption which is needed when storing and drying newly manufactured cores and reduced carbon dioxide emissions through less road transport.

There will be no need for the mill to invest in core handling: no more core cranes or core storage, no core cutter, no handling of cut cores, etc, etc.

Instead, there is a significant possibility to make stronger cores using less material and therefore further reducing the costs.

In Europe there are between 200 and 300 paper mills producing more than 100,000 tons of paper or board per year, paper mills that could benefit from a system like this. The concept offers huge opportunities for paper mills as well as for leading machine suppliers.

You don’t have to wait any longer for the core handling of tomorrow: the ‘Lean core concept’ is already here.

More information from CFE Nordic AB, Skärslidarna 118, SE311 78 Falkenberg, Sweden. Tel: 46 705 19 32 71. Website: www. cfenordic.com

Typical storage of paper cores: space hungry and potentially damaging

7–9 June 2022 HELSINKI, FINLAND

Welcome to the leading international event for the forest industry BUILDING TOMORROW’S BIOECONOMY

PulPaper is the forum for the latest technology and offers optimal business and networking opportunities in a multinational environment.

The global industry will once again be gathered in Helsinki.

For more information and contact details: pulpaper.fi #PulPaper2022

Exhibition • Conferences • Green Economy Business Summit • Excursions • Social events PULPAPER IS ORGANISED AT THE SAME TIME WITH the leading Nordic chemistry and biotechnology event ChemBio Finland and the international chemistry conference Helsinki Chemicals Forum.

Organized by:

May/June 2022

22 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Pulp Paper & Logistics

Pulp consistency measurement for larger process pipework

T

he consistency measurement range offered by ABB has been augmented with a larger flow-through sensor to fit process pipes with a diameter of up to 16 inches (406.4mm), giving more customers the choice to measure the total consistency of mixed pulps.

A redesigned insertion type with a new dual-plate sensor has also been launched by ABB. Both versions of the KPM KC7 are suitable for use in the stock preparation area of mills, which feeds the wet end of the paper machine. With the previous maximum of 12 inches (304.8mm), the new version is suitable for application in largerdiameter pipes that previously could only use insertion types. The

The KPM KC7 is suitable for application in pipes up to 406mm in diameter larger size, capturing the whole pipe diameter, is said to offer the most representative measurement on the market and provides precise, reliable measurements of total consistency regardless of flow rate.

For mills opting for the insertion style, the dual-plate design uses an optional temperature sensor

that can be retracted for abrasive and unscreened processes, a feature also available with the flow-through model. The parallel antennas avoid microwave reflections in the pipe and generate a self-cleaning effect, removing the risk of obstructions.

“ABB verifies each sensor before implementation to ensure high

accuracy,” said Karin Hermansson, product line manager at ABB. “With this update to fit larger pipes, to reduce obstructions and ensure smooth temperature readings for even the most difficult processes, we can now meet the most diverse requirements in the complex world of paper making.”

Plug-and-play analysis of power systems for energy savings The energy efficiency of motordriven equipment in pulp and paper mills can be improved with a service provided by ABB that analyses power consumption data.

The Ability Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal service draws on data measured from fleets of digitally-connected electric motors and variable speed drives (VSDs) to show where and how much energy can be saved by upgrading to the latest highefficiency technologies. Industrial operators are able to then make data-driven decisions when prioritising investments.

May/June 2022

There is potential to cut electricity demand by up to 10 percent by switching to highefficiency systems, says ABB. “The challenge for an industrial operator is knowing where to start in a fleet of hundreds of electrical motors,” said Adrian Guggisberg, division president of ABB Motion Services. “ABB developed the new Digital Powertrain Energy Appraisal service to provide clarity by analyzing motor data and identifying where businesses should focus investment to maximise energy efficiency gains that reduce operating costs and

carbon dioxide emissions.”

One operator that is reaping the benefits is Waggeryd Cell, a pulp mill in southern Sweden with industry-leading energy efficiency. It wanted to further improve the efficiency of its energy-intensive process by building on its ABB Ability Condition Monitoring system.

This draws data from digitallyconnected motors in refiners, process pumps, fans and conveyor belts.

Using the new service, ABB’s experts used data from the same sources to identify the ten motors with the most potential

for improving energy efficiency.

Waggeryd has now replaced of six of these motors to cut energy consumption.

Rather than use traditional manual data collection, the digital appraisal service uses a plugand-play approach to simplify energy efficiency assessments by pulling operational data remotely from across an entire fleet of digitally-connected motors. This provides much deeper insight into the business case and carbon footprint benefits of upgrading to high-efficiency motor-driven systems, while being much safer and faster.

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Long-distance, single-calibration break detection for all grades and colours

A

sheet break detection device that is said to be invulnerable to paper jams, colour and grade changes for high uptime and low maintenance has been launched

by ABB. KB2 Ranger, the latest addition to ABB’s KPM Sheet Break Detector range, is a non-contact optical sensor that is aimed at paper or board producers making frequent grade changes or coloured papers.

The single, one-button calibration removes the need for complicated, grade-specific settings, while the RGB break profiling method reduces false positives and automatically updates for more robust detection over time.

The KB2 Ranger offers measurement at longer distances

ABB’s KB2 Ranger is a non-contact optical sensor that is aimed at paper or board producers making frequent grade changes or coloured papers – up to 1.5 metres – and side installation to keep the sensor head outside the machine. It is said to provide reliable break detection in all configurations, such as against felt, wire or cylinders, and its freely adjustable sensor head is able to detect breaks from any angle. This removes the possibility of paper getting stuck on the sensor head,

enabling higher reliability and accuracy across all paper and board grades, regardless of colour.

Being mounted outside the housing, the electronics are unaffected by dirt, steam or temperature.

“Our KPM Sheet Break Detector is recognised as the best on the market and the proven choice for

Huhtamaki to increase moulded fibre packaging capacity Manufacturing capacity for smooth moulded fibre (SMF) packaging products is being increased by Huhtamaki.

The Finland-based producer is updating its Alf plant in Germany to meet growing demand for plastic-free food packaging.

The site at Alf will have the capacity to manufacture up to 3.5 billion fibre products a year, with the target in 2022 to replace more than 2,000 tonnes of plastic products with fibre.

This represents the first such large-scale production capability in Europe.

Huhtamaki’s SMF products are already in use by some of

There is a growing demand for sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging for food, says Huhtamaki the world’s leading food-service operators. The manufacturing facility at Alf currently makes fibre lids for a variety of uses and bespoke products for leading food service and FMCG brands,

including a range of hot, cold and frozen applications.

In contrast to polypropylene products made from fossil-fuels, SMF products are renewable, compostable and recyclable.

Furthermore, the wood fibre used to produce Huhtamaki’s designs is sourced from certified sustainably-managed European forests. The products made at Alf have been certified to meet home composting (‘OK’ certification) and industrial composting (EN13432) standards.

Eric Le Lay, president of Huhtamaki’s Fiber Foodservice Europe-Asia-Oceania business, explains: “There is a growing

installations in harsh environments or where space is limited,” said Karin Hermansson, product line manager at ABB. “We are pleased to unveil the new KB2 Ranger Model to offer additional options for mills facing frequent grade changes or colour-related issues, while proving our commitment to continual innovation surrounding mill optimisation solutions.”

KB2 is applicable globally across paper, tissue, board and pulp machines, and can be used on press or drying sections. demand for sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging for food. Our high-precision advanced manufacturing technology enables us to produce fibre lids, trays and other products with superior performance. These products dramatically reduce the consumption of plastic – which is mostly fossil-fuel based – whilst continuing to provide the same functionality including hygiene and safety which consumers expect.

“Our portfolio of fibre products manufactured in Germany and our expertise in material and manufacturing innovation presents a wide range of sustainable packaging products to help customers deliver on their sustainability agenda and goals.”

May/June 2022

24 PRODUCTS & SERVICES

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Revolutionary change at Körber’s tissue business

I

n what the Körber Group describes as a “revolutionary market approach”, the Italy-based company is transforming its tissue business from being a machinery supplier to becoming a strategic partner providing technologicallyadvanced and integrated systems.

With the newly launched Körber ecosystem, the technologies involved throughout the tissue converting process are now integrated into a single offering, from raw paper to finished product, to distribution logistics.

In the Körber ecosystem all the machines making up the production line, from parent reel unwinding to palletisation, including those developed by external companies, are connected and controlled by Sam Flow, dedicated software that monitors the process and is capable of self-adjusting the key production parameters to deliver the highest production efficiency.

This ‘one-stop-shop’ concept adopted by Körber Business Area Tissue aims to simplify the

May/June 2022

tissue converting and packaging practices, with a single contact point offering customers a wide range of benefits – from the best technology based on the specific market requirements, to defining the optimum line layout by minimising the footprint.

“The Körber ecosystem represents a significant turning point for tissue market. This is a new concept of partnership with a strategic long-term view over investments and the adoption of breakthrough technologies to enable our customers to capture new growth opportunities,” comments Simone Barsanti, strategy and M&A director.

The Körber ecosystem will be launched at iT’s Tissue 2022, being held at Lucca in Italy from 6-10 June.

A number of new product launches from Körber’s tissue business include the Casmatic Zephyrus, Casmatic CMB 270, Casmatic A6T XL and Carbon T. The Zephyrus uses delta robot technology to pick the tissue products in carton boxes, offering

Körber’s Zephyrus uses delta robot technology to pack the tissue products in carton boxes high flexibility in production. It can be integrated into an existing packaging line between the log saw and the packaging machine with the possibility of producing in three different modes: Full production, Mixed production, and Bypass.

In the first it packs all the product made by the converting line, in the second it lets through all the product that is packaged by a traditional wrapper, and the third is a mix of both.

The CMB 270 is a high-speed bundling machine designed to produce up to 27 bundles per minute in a wide range of formats.

Equipped with intelligent systems to automatically change format, it enables a 60 per cent reduction in air and energy consumption compared to existing models on the market.

The A6T XL is designed for particular geographic markets, such as North America, which require taller packages up to 410 mm in height. Key feature is the insertion of four pneumatic cylinders that allow the towing unit to be lifted when there is a need to create

formats higher than 305mm.

A wrapping machine, the Carbon T is designed to achieve maximum yield with a speed of more than 200 packs per minute, while ensuring high quality of the finished product.

Quality of the primary packaging is monitored by Casmatic Sam pack, which manages defective packages through a series of HD cameras and light bars that scan each side of the package. Through a neural network instructed by a deep learning algorithm, it is able to detect most visible defects for any format, so any non-compliant packages can be managed as needed.

Nicolò Squarzoni, Körber Business Area Tissue’s product manager, commented: “The global pandemic has revolutionised the world, and has highlighted the need to address the ever-growing requirements that the tissue market has manifested and is still highlighting. Two trends have emerged from these evolutions between supply and demand in recent years: e-commerce and sustainability.”

Pulp Paper & Logistics

PRODUCTS & SERVICES–25 Forward together Neles is now part of Valmet

Neles was merged into Valmet on April 1, 2022. Valmet is now an even stronger, globally leading company with a unique and competitive offering for process industries.

Pulp, paper and energy producers can now benefit from an even more comprehensive offering that covers process technologies, services, automation systems and flow control solutions. Our extensive flow control portfolio consists of industry-leading valves, valve automation solutions and related services.

Our global team of around 17,000 professionals is committed to moving your performance forward — every day.

For more information, visit valmet.com

May/June 2022

26 PROJECTS & CONTRACTS

Pulp Paper & Logistics

Bleach plant rebuild at Stora Enso’s Skutskär mill in Sweden

S

tora Enso is rebuilding its bleach plant no 4 at its Skutskär Mill in Sweden and has signed a deal with Andritz.

The investment in new bleaching technology will increase the capacity of the mill and support Stora Enso’s ambitious climate targets. In addition, it will improve operational performance, enhance the overall efficiency of mill maintenance and reduce the site’s carbon footprint. The project includes the installation of two Compact Press wash presses, a new reactor, an effluent fibre filter, and MC equipment – all from Andritz.

Start-up is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.

The Compact Press wash press is said to offer a small footprint and high availability, including high washing efficiency, thus ensuring high-quality production and highest pulp cleanliness. For added sustainability and circularity, the mill will reuse the Stora Enso Oulu

Two Compact Presses from Andritz will be used at the Skutskär mill

mill’s bleaching reactor and some of the mixers there.

Andritz will also replace an existing wash filter in Fiberline 3

after the brown stock screen room with a pre-used press from the Altri Celbi mill, previously owned

by Stora Enso.

The Skutskär mill has an annual capacity for 540,000 tons and produces fluff, hardwood and softwood kraft pulp.

World’s largest single-line pulping system for Jiangxi Five Star Paper in China A high-capacity, chemithermomechanical pulping system is being supplied by Andritz to Jiangxi Five Star Paper in China.

Andritz will install PreConditioning Refiner Chemical Alkaline Peroxide Mechanical Pulp technology to achieve optimum pulp quality with the lowest energy consumption.

The pulp will be used to May/June 2022

produce folding boxboard from eucalyptus wood chips as raw material. With a capacity of 1,500 admt/d the new fibreline will be the largest system in the world based on a singleline concept with only one HC refiner as the basis of the process. Start-up is planned for 2023.

Andritz will supply the main equipment – from chip washing

to the storage tower – that includes: c A MSD600 Prime Impressafiner for wood chip maceration to enable optimum chemical impregnation c A TX68 twin refiner – the world’s largest high-consistency (HC) refiner – including an advanced feeding system. c Three Andritz Compact Press units

c A number of PrimeScreens X with a PrimeRotor for primary and reject screening with the minimum of energy consumption.

Jiangxi Five Star Paper specialises in the production of speciality paper. It has been part of Quzhou Wuzhou Special Paper Co, one of China’s largest food wrapping paper producers, since 2015.

PROJECTS & CONTRACTS 27

Pulp Paper & Logistics

First-time use for bio-syngas at Sofidel mill in Sweden

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ofidel Group is upgrading hood technology at its Kisa tissue mill in Sweden with Andritz equipment that will enable the use of bio-syngas to dry tissue, or any other type of paper.

This is the first-time that biosyngas, a renewable energy source, will be used in the paper industry for drying. Start-up is planned for the first half of 2023.

To switch the heating process from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to bio-syngas, the burners at PM3 and PM4 in the Kisa mill will be replaced and the combustion chamber in the hood of PM3 will be upgraded by Andritz Novimpianti. This will ensure a uniform flow of gas and thus

Andritz Novimpianti helps Sofidel to cut fossil fuel out of the tissue drying equation enable effective and consistent tissue drying. Once the upgrade has been completed, PM3 will use 100 per cent bio-syngas for paper drying, while the PM4 burner will

be partially fuelled by bio-syngas.

This investment is part of Sofidel’s goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 8,500 tons a year. The bio-syngas used

for the heating process will be generated in a thermochemical conversion plant on the Kisa site, using locally-sourced woodchips as biofuel.

Sofidel’s chief technical officer Davide Mainardi commented: “The adoption of bio-syngas at Kisa is a major feature on our sustainability roadmap.

This initiative with Andritz Novimpianti, Meva Energy and the University of Pisa brings concrete benefits that will yield results within a relatively short time frame. It will also help give us confidence that our interim goal of a 40 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 compared with the base year 2018 is achievable with technology already available.”

Kemi mill maintenance contract signed as construction progresses TiMi Tec Oy has been awarded a site maintenance contract for Metsä Group’s Kemi mill in Finland. The agreement covers the site maintenance for the new Metsä Fibre bioproduct mill and Metsä Board’s Kemi board mill.

Costing €1.85 billion, the Kemi bioproduct mill is said to be the largest investment in the history of the Finnish forest industry.

The fossil-fuel-free bioproduct mill will start up in the third quarter of 2023. In addition to pulp, the new mill will produce other bioproducts such as tall oil, turpentine and bioelectricity.

“An effective site maintenance contract is a key factor in the

Construction progress of the Kemi bioproduct mill can be followed through the web cam live stream at www.metsafibre.com/ webcamskemi maintenance of the bioproduct mill worksite and the future mill,” says Tomi Seppä, manager

of the Kemi bioproduct mill.

“The contract includes efficient solutions for the management

and maintenance of the mill sites to maintain the safety, usability and comfort of the outdoor areas.

TiMi Tec has been a reliable partner for us for a long time.”

Timo Kankaanpää, chairman of TiMi Tec Oy, added: “Metsä Group has been an important partner for us since 2010, and this contract strengthens our partnership. The service agreement includes site maintenance, maintenance services for the wood yard and tracks, and other work required for the process. To meet the requirements of the new contract, we will recruit eight to 10 new people.”

May/June 2022

28 PROJECTS & CONTRACTS

Pulp Paper & Logistics

New pulp mill for Liansheng Pulp & Paper in China

C

hinese pulp and paper producer Liansheng Pulp & Paper has ordered a complete pulp mill from Andritz for installation at Zhangzhou in Fujian province.

Andritz will provide technologies for all the main process islands in the fibre production and the chemical recovery plant, with startup scheduled for mid-2024.

The order, the value of which was not revealed, includes: cA chip handling plant consisting of eight 360-degree stacker reclaimer storage and screening systems. The stacker reclaimers will have a capacity of 387,000 cubic metres each and will be the largest in the world. The chip handling plant will serve both the chemical and mechanical pulping lines of the mill. c The complete fibreline, equipped with Compact Press wash press technology, providing brightness of more than 91 per cent ISO. The delivery includes state-of-the-art LoSolids continuous cooking, screening, brown stock and postoxygen washing equipment and

Strong business partners: Thomas Schmitz, president of Andritz China (left), and Chen Jiayu, chairman and main owner of Liansheng Pulp & Paper two-stage oxygen delignification and a four-stage ECF bleaching plant with Compact Presses. c Two screening systems for the pulp drying line and for the wet lap and paper machines. c An energy-efficient black liquor evaporation plant to concentrate liquor up to 85 per cent DS (without ash) in a tailor-made process resulting in high availability and an increase in the overall production and efficiency of the plant. c Ash re-crystallisation (ARC) system to treat the ash from

the electrostatic precipitator by decreasing the chloride and potassium content while recovering sodium and sulphate. c The largest Herb recovery boiler in China, with steam values of 515 deg C and 105 bar(g) at the turbine, featuring energyefficient flue gas cooling and feed water preheating technologies to maximise steam for power generation. c A complete white liquor plant with gasification system, enabling fossil-free operation of the lime kilns with an optimised pulp

mill carbon footprint. The new recausticising plant includes an efficient green liquor handling system with three LimeGreen filters for green liquor filtration and two centrifuges for handling of dregs – producing clean green liquor and minimising waste to landfill. The single lime kiln plant will be the world’s largest by capacity and is equipped with Andritz’s LimeFlash-H feed head system for maximising lime kiln efficiency. The biomass gasification plant will be the largest of its kind worldwide feeding a lime kiln burner. The biomass feed will be a mixture of eucalyptus and acacia chips and bark. c A mill-wide incineration system for non-condensable gases (NCG). The NCG incineration system is based on the A-Recovery+ concept, which focuses on using the side streams in the recovery cycle. c Two Stirox (WLOx) systems which provde a higher reaction efficiency to preserve the chemical balance of the mill.

Rebuild for ITC’s décor paper line in India India’s largest paper manufacturer ITC Limited has commissioned Voith to rebuild its speciality PM1, including stock preparation, at the Chandrahati mill, about 60 km north of Kolkata.

With the rebuilt décor paper machine, ITC will increase its production capacity for highquality décor paper with basis weights of 40-90 gsm, while lowering operating costs.

May/June 2022

“In the Chandrahati PM1 rebuild project, ITC is drawing on Voith’s unique expertise and reliability to further expand its market leadership in high-quality speciality papers,” says Vadiraj Kulkarni, divisional chief executive at ITC. “With state-of-the-art technology and latest equipment from Voith, we will produce worldclass décor paper.”

Voith has completed a number of projects for ITC, which has

more than 50 years of experience in producing a wide range of paper grades. Among others, Voith delivered PM4 in 2017, with which the Indian company has been successfully producing décor paper since start-up.

Production lines for décor paper have to meet special requirements. For example, excellent print quality and very high opacity must be ensured, which is why up to 40 per cent

high-quality filler is used in the production process.

PM1 will be equipped with Voith products including the IntensaPulper concept in stock preparation and the advanced wet end process with HydroMix, ComMix and latest BlueLine products such as IntegraGuard screens. In addition, the system is designed for efficient use of short fibres and minimisation of filler losses.

PROJECTS & CONTRACTS 29

Pulp Paper & Logistics

Further upgrades for PM2 line at Cartiera Giacosa in Italy

T

he PM2 kraftliner paper machine rebuilt

by Andritz at Cartiera Giacosa’s mill in Front Canavese in Italy is to be further improved.

The PM2 has a design speed of 400 m/min and a working width of 3.0m. It produces kraftliner in the range of 170 to 225 gsm for laminated sheets used in furniture applications.

The first rebuild was aimed at reducing the specific energy consumption in the press and drying sections to obtain a smaller carbon dioxide footprint. With the replacement of the second and third press with a new long-nip press, the dryness content has been increased by 2.5 per cent and the length of the press section has been reduced substantially.

Key steam and specific energy savings of up to 12 per cent at Cartiera Giacosa The press is equipped with roll covers and paper machine clothing supplied by Andritz Fabrics and Rolls, offering superior performance.

The space saved was used for two additional PrimeDry Steel dryers will provide important

steam and specific energy savings of up to 12 per cent as well as cost-efficient production.

Marco Roscio, chief executive of Cartiera Giacosa, says: “Thanks to this successful rebuild we can now produce our kraftliner more efficiently and more sustainably.

We recognised that our PM2 offers further potential for improvement, especially in terms of better quality and better profiles – so no wonder that we partnered again with Andritz.”

The follow-up order – for the rebuild of the wire section – includes a new PrimeScreen X for the approach flow system with fan pumps as well as a new PrimeFlow AT headbox with the latest dilution water CD profiling for better high-end product quality. A new mechanical drive for PM2 will also improve the machine’s overall efficiency and the consistency of the paper quality.

Cartiera Giacosa was established in 1961 and specialises in the production of decorative paper and kraft paper for laminated plastics.

Drives and cyber security upgrade for DS Smith’s Kemsley Paper Mill A distributed control system (DCS) and paper machine drives upgrade by ABB at DS Smith’s Kemsley Paper Mill in the UK is expected to fulfil a vision of highly-automated, connected, and secure operations.

The Kent mill is the secondlargest recovered fibre-based paper operation in Europe, with an annual capacity of more than 840,000 tons. The mill produces the first recycled, lightweight paper manufactured in the UK including White Liner A, White Liner B, Dual Use, Dual Use HP Plus, Light Medium Plus, Liner 3 and Plasterboard Liners.

ABB is supplying an Ability

System 800xA distributed control system (DCS) and paper machine drives the upgrade across the PM3, PM4 and PM6 lines. The upgraded DCS will be integrated across the mill, connecting securely into one system for better, more automated functionality and easier maintenance.

ABB will also deliver a one-year support contract, the latest cyber security set up and two new Virtual Measurements for PM4, which will provide online calculations for strength and weight. System delivery is expected in the third quarter of 2022.

Ben Jennings, manager of the Kemsley Mill, says: “ABB’s

DS Smith’s Kemsley Paper Mill in the UK, where ABB is supplying a comprehensive drives upgrade consultation, involving numerous remote workshops and ongoing discussions, helped us define the best approach for our modernisation project. The

team showed real expertise and understanding of our future ambitions and will act as a partner to us in our digital transformation journey.”

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30 PROJECTS & CONTRACTS

Pulp Paper & Logistics

Digitalisation at Saica mill pays off in starch savings

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he digitalisation of production on the PM9 line at Saica Group’s mill at El Burgo in Spain has “already paid off” says supplier Voith, just a few months after being installed.

After what was described as a positive experience with investment in Papermaking 4.0 on Saica’s PM4 line at Venizel in France, at the end of 2020 Voith was awarded the contract to implement the project for PM9, which includes OnCumulus applications and the two solution packages OnView.

MassBalance and OnEfficiency.

Strength.

The El Burgo mill, around 25 km from Zaragoza, produces around 430,000 tons of paper per year.

The main goal of OnEfficiency.

Strength on a paper machine for

container board is to reduce the consumption of starch without negatively affecting the strength properties of the paper. The system uses virtual sensors as a basis on which innovative advanced process control is built. Voith says OnEfficiency.

Strength has proved to be beneficial in several ways and significantly reduced the product cost.

Also at PM9, the high potential of digitalisation became apparent shortly after commissioning. Fernando Vicente, production manager at PM9 El Burgo, says: “Although the plant has been continuously optimised in recent years, we have now been able to significantly reduce our starch usage in the first few weeks with the help of OnEfficiency.

Strength.

“The tool is very easy to use, and the operators are very motivated to integrate it into their daily work. We are confident that, in the future, savings can be increased even further. Now it is much easier to sustainably achieve the targeted quality at the lowest possible cost.”

OnView.MassBalance starts at an earlier point in paper production. The app’s data maps the current stock flows in a diagram and depicts deviations from the standard. As soon as a defined threshold is exceeded, the application automatically highlights the relevant area in the diagram and recommends suitable courses of action to avoid fibre losses Both applications are integrated on Voith’s OnCumulus platform, which provides

users with an overview of all important process parameters, includes several industry-specific applications and also acts as a reliable and secure data repository. Building on the initial positive results, regular meetings are held between the Saica and Voith teams to jointly discuss progress, results and schedules.

The goal is to further push the optimisation of the system.

Juan Luis Mendoza, digital process officer at Saica, explains how the new solutions have already opened up a whole new perspective: “The integration of OnEfficiency.Strength into the existing automation technology of PM9 was seamless. This is now reflected in our very positive results. The digital tools support us in achieving our ambitious targets in an intelligent way.”

Wet section upgrades for Papierfabriek Doetinchem Papierfabriek Doetinchem in the Netherlands is upgrading the wet sections of its PM1 and PM3 special paper machines using Andritz technology. The start-ups are scheduled for 2022.

With the aim to improve the paper quality and provide the basis for a possible capacity increase. Andritz will deliver ModuScreen HB dilution headbox screens, PrimeFlow AT headboxes with PrimeProfiler F dilution control, and pumps for both machines.

The proven ModuScreen HB ensures efficient and almost pulsation-free screening at low May/June 2022

energy consumption thanks to the design following the inflow principle and to the screen’s accept chamber design.

The PrimeFlow AT headbox has a patented ‘Accelerating Tube’ design with nested trapezoid outlets. It features a rugged design structure, sheets in the nozzle for turbulence control, and capacity for highresolution dilution profiling.

This provides excellent jet quality, fibre dispersion and fibre orientation control over a wide range of grades and speeds.

The mill produces 70,000 tons per year of paper for a

PrimeFlow AT headbox with patented ‘accelerating tube’ design broad range of applications.

All products are made from first-class recycled fibres and

can also be recycled again. They are biodegradable and standard PEFC certified.

PROJECTS & CONTRACTS 31

Pulp Paper & Logistics

Stock preparation line for India’s B&B Triplewall Containers

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ndian board producer B&B Triplewall Containers Limited has ordered a stock preparation and advanced approach flow system for its PM1 line at the Krishnagiri mill in Tamil Nadu.

With a capacity of 250 tons per day, the BlueLine OCC stock preparation to be installed by Voith will supply high-quality OCC pulp for the production of stable container board. In addition, full-line supplier Voith will provide engineering for the process and plant, as well as automation, and will supervise construction. The rebuilt plant is scheduled to start up before the end of 2022.

Manish Bothra, director of B&B Triplewall Containers, commented: “We are delighted to have Voith as our partner for this transformative diversification project for us.

We are impressed by Voith’s

The contract signing ceremony at B&B Triplewall Containers in Hosur. Pictured (from left to right) are: Manish Bothra (director of B&B Triplewall Containers), Manish Gupta (director of B&B Triplewall Containers), Supratim Pan (senior deputy manager of Fiber Systems at Voith Paper India) and Ashis Talukdar (head of engineering at Voith Paper India) know-how and experience in this field and the great feedback we have received from Voith’s many successful references in India. In addition to the superior

technological base, one of the key factors in our decision was the local Voith Paper India team with its knowledge and on-site services.”

Supratim Pan, sales and application manager at Voith Paper, added: “Voith is proud to work with B&B Triplewall Containers. Our BlueLine stock preparation system with proven and sustainable solutions will ensure the highest customer value and lowest total cost of ownership.”

As part of the BlueLine stock preparation system, Voith will supply a number products including TwinPulp technology with the IntensaPulper which ensures maximum efficiency and minimises fibre losses with the lowest energy input. InduraHiClean high consistency cleaners help remove heavy contaminants as well as smaller particles such as sand or stones in a safe way to protect the downstream machines in the process line for reliable and sustainable operation.

Lower energy consumption for new press section at Burgo mill Italy’s Burgo Group is having the press section on its PM2 test liner/white top liner machine at the Avezzano mill rebuilt by Andritz.

Objective is to significantly increase the dryness content after the press – while also saving energy – and to improve other paper properties. The new press section, which has a width of 5.32m and design speed of 1,200 m/min, will enable Burgo to achieve a reduction in steam and specific energy consumption.

The project includes a new

The rebuild of Burgo’s PM2 at Avezzano will significantly increase the dryness content after the press PrimePress X shoe press for the fourth nip, with a line load of

1,450 kN/m. With this type of shoe press, Andritz says the highest

dry content levels are possible compared to the market standard.

In addition, the runnability of the machine will be improved.

In recent years, Andritz has supplied various equipment items and services to Burgo, for example the conversion of its PM2 from graphic paper to containerboard grades, which also included the delivery of a new stock preparation line and a new top wire.

The rebuild of Burgo’s PM2 at Avezzano will significantly increase the dryness content after the press.

May/June 2022

32 PEOPLE

Pulp Paper & Logistics

New technical services and sales managers for Monadnock

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rank Shaffer has joined Monadnock Paper Mills, based in Bennington, New Hampshire, as technical services manager, acting as the liaison between Monadnock and its vendors and customers with a view to new product development, quality, sales and marketing, while Carol Hoffman Schoedinger has joined as senior sales manager.

Prior to joining Monadnock, Shaffer was with Hub Folding Box in Massachusetts, Timbar Packaging & Display, and Two C Pack Systems. Frank also founded

Carol Hoffman Schoedinger

Frank Shaffer

Souhegan Color, which merged with Eastern Rainbow in 1999. He has a background in commercial print operations, secondary packaging, and media.

“I’m pleased to welcome Frank to our team,” said Dr Rajan

Iyer, vice president of research & development and technical services at Monadnock. “His extensive background in print platforms, post-press converting, and product development raises the level of consultative service

we can provide to our customers.”

Schoedinger will have responsibility for selling Monadnock’s full range of printing, packaging and technical/ specialty papers in the US Midwest. She has held a range of sales and business development roles with WestRock, Evergreen Packaging and Appleton Coated.

“We are fortunate to have Carol join the Monadnock business,” said Lisa Taylor, vice president of sales & marketing at Monadnock.

“She’s an exemplary sales professional and we look forward to having her on our team.”

Sonoco reorganises its management structure A number of key appointments have been made at South Carolina-based paper packaging manufacturer Sonoco as part of its strategy to simplify its operational efficiency.

Rodger Fuller has been appointed chief operating officer, reporting

Rodger Fuller

Sean Cairns

James Harrell

to chief executive Howard Coker.

Fuller was previously global consumer and industrial chief with 36 years of experience.

Sean Cairns is now president of Sonoco’s global rigid paper and closures business organisation, including operations in Americas,

Russell Grissett

Jeff Tomaszewski

Europe and Asia, reporting to Fuller. He was previously general manager of Sonoco’s consumer products division.

President of Sonoco’s global industrial paper packaging is James Harrell, reporting to Fuller.

Harrell has 37 years experience in industrial packaging with Sonoco.

James Harrell has been named President of Global Industrial Paper Packaging, reporting to Fuller, and has responsibility for all of Sonoco’s Industrial businesses globally. Harrell was previously

vice president, Industrial Americas, and has 37 years of experience with Sonoco, including running the company’s Industrial operations in the Americas and Europe.

Also reporting to Fuller is Russell Grissett, who will continue to lead Sonoco’s global flexible packaging business.

Jeff Tomaszewski has been appointed president of Sonoco’s diversified businesses, reporting to Coker, with responsibility for maximising performance and profitability.

New chief executive for the UK’s logistics and transport institute Sharon Kindleysides has been appointed chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK – CILT (UK) – succeeding Kevin Richardson FCILT, who is retiring after more than six years in the role.

A global expert in transport and future mobility, Sharon has May/June 2022

more than 19 years’ experience in the sector – including previous roles as ITS Director for Transport in New South Wales, Australia and chief executive of Kapsch TrafficCom Ltd. She also served as Chairman of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in the UK. Alan Jones, chairman

CILT(UK), commented: “After a comprehensive search, the board has found a strong leader in Sharon. Her leadership experience and proven commitment to diversity, equality, inclusion and innovation will guide the institute through an important period of growth and opportunity.”

Sharon Kindleysides

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