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

ipw news

The first International ZELLCHEMING Conference on cellulose-based materials planned for June 21-24, 2020, in Darmstadt, Germany, will not take place this year. The background to this is the hygiene measures for the event, which had become necessary in view of the corona pandemic and for which numerous foreign participants were expected. Intensive investigations are currently underway to determine when the event can celebrate its postponed premiere. As soon as the new date is fixed, it will be announced.

Dr. Jan Klingele, Managing Partner of the Klingele Group, has been elected Chairman of the International Corrugated Case Association (ICCA). Founded in 1961 as an international association for the corrugated board industry, ICCA's main goals are to work globally to address the concerns of the industry, to increase awareness of its products, services and issues, and to support the activities of its members at a national and regional level.

Valmet will supply a complete steam boiler plant to Norske Skog’s paper mill in Bruck an der Mur, Austria. The order was included in Valmet’s orders received of the first quarter 2020. The value of the order is approximately EUR 40 million. The boiler plant will be handed over to the customer in 2022.

The Board of Södra has appointed Lotta Lyrå as new President and CEO. She will take office this year and thereby replace CFO Peter Karlsson, who has been Interim President since 20 February this year.

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order to supply a complete PrimeLineCOMPACT S 1300 tissue machine with stock preparation system to Xuong Giang Paper Mill, Vietnam, a subsidiary company of Bac Giang Import Export JSC.

WEPA Giershagen is steadily operating its Toscotec-supplied AHEAD-2.0S tissue line (PM19) at the speed of 2,200 mpm. PM19 came online in October 2015 and after a machine speed-up, reached the constant speed of 2,200 mpm. Based on this result and according to them, WEPA sets a new world record in the tissue industry for machine speed in continuous running conditions.

Mondi, a global packaging and paper group, is committed to playing its part in the supply of essential products during the COVID-19 outbreak and has recently developed packaging for QIAGEN's SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus test kit.

Jingxing Paper, a listed Chinese papermaking company, selected Voith Paper to provide two complete stock preparation systems for its greenfield mill in Malaysia. Voith will provide the full scope of BlueLine OCC systems as a full-line supplier, including automation and Papermaking 4.0 products. The two Voith BlueLine OCC systems will be AOCC furnished and are scheduled for startup at the end of 2021, with a combined capacity of 2,400 tons/day.

The ANDRITZ tissue machine at Vajda Papír, Dunaföldvár, Hungary, has been in full operating mode for a few months now, and the results are impressive: “We are really satisfied with the quality of our paper. We have received very positive feedback from our customers, who are impressed by the softness and handfeel,” says Attila Vajda, CEO, Vajda Papír.

Canadian forest product company, Chantiers Chibougamau, has selected ABB to help overhaul its Nordic Kraft pulp mill in Lebel-Sur-Quevillion in northern Quebec. The order comprises the delivery and integration of a new drives system and ABB Ability™ Quality Management System (QMS). This includes ABB’s Web Imaging System (WIS) and Web Monitoring System (WMS) into the ABB Ability™ System 800xA distributed control system (DCS). ABB will provide a comprehensive service contract and remote connection for diagnostic and service activity.

As recently announced on the 12^th of May Sappi Europe’s Alfeld Mill site, situated in Germany, suffered a fire around the area of its paper machine 3. In follow up to this incident there has been a thorough inspection and investigation of the area affected by the fire. Results found that there is limited damage to the paper machine itself with the MG cylinder being found to be undamaged. The focus of the damage was to the machine hall, particularly to the mezzanine ceiling and the roof of which both are currently undergoing repairs ahead of production being restarted.

Sofidel, manufacturer of tissue paper for hygienic and domestic use, continues to innovate and diversify its solutions for personal and household hygiene, proposing the new Nicky Defend, a disposable tissue paper towel with antibacterial lotion designed for the consumer market and specifically developed to guarantee proper hygiene.

Voith is expanding its product portfolio in the BlueLine stock preparation line with the launch of a new disperger with hydraulic gap adjustment. InfibraDisp is characterized by precise, infinitely variable gap adjustment, automated zero-point adjustment and user-friendly handling. The newly developed, smart control unit enables monitoring of filling wear and prevents any risk of plate contact with vibration sensors. As the core element of the BlueLine Compact Dispersion System, the new InfibraDisp contributes significantly to the provision of a high-quality raw fiber material based on recovered paper.

The Palm Group has selected Heimbach as co-supplier for forming fabrics, press felts, shoe press belts and transfer belts for its new PM 5 corrugating base paper machine. With this decision, the Aalen-based family-owned company has placed its trust in the expertise and technical know-how of the experienced machine clothing specialist Heimbach.