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

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At the beginning of June 2019, the green light was given for the construction of the new Papierfabrik Palm paper mill for the production of testliner and corrugated baseboard. Voith will be supplying the stock preparation line for the project and has to this end designed one of the largest and most advanced BlueLine systems worldwide.

Sappi has chosen ABB to supply engineering, procurement and construction for the electrical, control and instrumentation portion of their project Vulindlela. The project is an ambitious plan to increase mill production by approximately 14 percent while reducing the pulp mill’s environmental impact. Due for completion in the winter of 2020, the project includes the design, supply, installation and commissioning of all electrical and automation equipment at Sappi’s Saiccor Mill located in Umkomaas, South Africa.

With SupremeFilm, Voith is enhancing its product range for film presses with a new high-performance roll cover made from polyurethane (PU). To positively influence paper characteristics like printability, coating and starch are applied to the paper in the coating and sizing section using applicator units. Voith’s new SupremeFilm roll cover works well in the Voith Speed Sizer AT, and is also suitable for challenging applications in film presses produced by other manufacturers.

The international technology group Körber acquires Roll-Tec Cilindro Ltda. based in São Paulo, Brazil. Roll-Tec develops, produces and sells engraving cylinders for embossing machines for tissue paper and other tissue products. The acquisition was completed effective July 31, 2019.

On June 28, 2019, the BM 7, the “most modern, most efficient and largest board machine in the world”, was successfully commissioned at the BillerudKorsnäs production facility in Gruvön, Sweden. The Voith XcelLine board machine has been equipped with a pioneering technological setup that sets new performance benchmarks for production lines for four different board grades. At a design speed of 1,200 m/min and web width of 8,800 mm, the capacity of the BM 7 is 550,000 metric tons per year. Start-up took just seven days from stock on wire to paper on reel.

Metso signed new distributor agreements in eight European countries for its valve business during H1/2019. The new agreements help to further expand the coverage of Metso’s valve offering in various customer industries. Depending on the country, the distributors serve process industries, such as refineries, petrochemical, chemical, fertilizer, steel, bioenergy, food, power, pulp and paper, and waste water. Some of the distributors also provide service support for Metso valves and valve controls.

Kartogroup has selected the BTG dataPARC solution as their process information platform for their tissue mill located in Burriana, in the Castellón province of Spain. The mill is part of the Cominter Group, headquartered in Barcelona. This is the second tissue mill in the organization to select dataPARC.

Stora Enso has signed an agreement to divest its 60% equity stake in the Dawang Mill in China, to its joint venture partner, Shandong Huatai Paper. The joint venture Stora Enso Huatai (Shandong) Paper Company Limited operates the Dawang paper mill at Dongying in Shandong province in China. The mill has an annual production capacity of 140 000 tonnes of super-calendered (SC) magazine paper and other publication paper grades based on recovered fibre.

PMP (Paper Machinery Producer) is supporting the dynamic development of one of the biggest pulp and paper companies in the world for almost 20 years. One of the significant examples of their partnership was the delivery of 25 Intelli-Jet V^® Hydraulic Headboxes for both, tissue and paper machines.

Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring Ltd has made an equity investment in Woodio Ltd, a leading developer of waterproof wood composite products. The financing round totals approximately EUR 4 million, and Metsä Spring participates in the round together with current investors Ardent Venture BV, Finow Ltd, NextStone Ltd and Valve Ventures Ltd.

Alexander Bachmann, Business Manager at Kelheim Fibres, will present a detectable viscose fibre with a unique fingerprint structure at this year’s Global Fiber Congress in Dornbirn. With this fibre, the Bavarian viscose speciality fibre manufacturer addresses a global problem of growing proportions: For organic cotton alone, the rapidly increasing demand with simultaneously declining production volume invite fraud and counterfeiting, but also other high-quality textiles are forged on a grand scale.