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

ipw news

The European Net Zero Alliance (EZNA), an alliance of 17 associations advocating for cross-sectoral and cross-vectoral climate neutrality solutions, was launched on Tuesday. It brings together European associations representing different industries - pulp and paper, buildings, mobility, agriculture - and energy providers from liquid and gaseous fuels, to heat, and including electricity distribution.

Valmet will supply an IQ Moisturizer system to DS Smith Contoire-Hamel in the Northern part of France. The new system will be installed on DS Smith Contoire-Hamel’s paper mill’s paper machine PM1. The target of the investment is to improve the moisture profile of the board for better corrugated performance.

Cartiera San Giorgio successfully started up its PM1 after the complete rebuilt of its dryer section by Toscotec. PM1 has a trim width of 2,500 mm, and produces wet creped tissue in the basis weight range from 30 to 50 gsm, using virgin cellulose and recycled paper.

Modellfabrik Papier, founded in Düren, Germany, will bring together players from across the paper industry including ABB, paper producers Essity and Schoellershammer, supplier Voith, and research institute Darmstadt Technical University, with the opportunity for others to participate. Together, this innovation-driven society will develop a model paper factory with the aim to design a more energy efficient and future-proof paper production.

Cepi, the European association representing the paper industry, has been closely monitoring market developments in reaction to the material waste import ban by the Chinese authorities including paper for recycling, the redirection of global flows of paper for recycling and structural changes in paper consumption and collection during the Covid-19 crisis.

International technology Group ANDRITZ has successfully started up a complete continuous low-consistency (LC) pulping system at Papeleira Coreboard, Portugal.

On March 11, 2021, Green Bay Packaging started operating its new PM4 production line. The facility located near the headquarters of the family-owned company in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is a groundbreaking project in several respects. The testliner machine is the first new paper mill built in Wisconsin in over 30 years, creating numerous new jobs in the Lake Michigan region. Moreover, it is the first time in the history of the U.S. that a single company was awarded the contract to supply a complete production line for the paper industry: Voith.

With a new robotic solution, the automation specialists at cts GmbH are optimizing pulp bale handling in the pulp and paper industry. Up to 90 pulp bales per hour can be automatically de-wired via a 6-axis robot on one or two independent lines. The flexible cts robot solution is available in two versions: The DWR-BC works with a camera system for wire detection, the DWR-BT works tactilely.

International technology Group ANDRITZ has successfully started up next-generation disc filter technology with eight PrimeFilter D disc filters at Malaysia Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Limited, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Valmet introduced its climate program – Forward to a carbon neutral future – in the company’s Capital Markets Day on March 10, 2021. The program continues Valmet’s comprehensive work for sustainability.

Södra Cell is increasing the price of its northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp in Europe to $1,220, effective 1 April 2021.

bio-fibre news

Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring and Valmet are building a demo plant in Äänekoski. The plant will manufacture new 3D fibre products for food packaging and other purposes.

Kuura, the new textile fibre brand of Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring, is presented to the general public during Japan Fashion Week. Made from the pulp of the Finnish Äänekoski bioproduct mill, Kuura fibre is launched at the top fashion event this week in cooperation with Japanese trading house ITOCHU Corporation and the clothing brand THE RERACS.

Woodcast is a lightweight biodegradable material made from wood and biopolymers, originally developed to replace the plaster casts traditionally used in hospitals. The material, invented by the Finnish high-tech company Onbone, proved to be so versatile that it is now used in a wide array of usage areas, one of them being sports.