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

ipw news

International technology group Andritz has successfully started up the new steel Yankee and air and energy systems at Kartogroup España S.L., Burriana mill, Spain.

Wepa and Toscotec started up an Ahead 2.2S tissue machine at Piechowice mill in Poland. The new line is part of a full turnkey supply by Toscotec, starting from the bale handling system and bridge crane up to the parent roll handling system. It produces premium quality recycled hygiene paper primarily for the Away-from-Home market.

Pure Supreme is an established premium white-top kraftliner, optimized for offset printing. BillerudKorsnäs is now launching an upgraded version, which is more than a facelift – it could even be regarded as a new product. It offers excellent print results in terms of colour fidelity and lifelike image reproduction. Its strength and stiffness ensure high runnability, allowing for high-speed printing and converting processes.

Stora Enso is investing EUR 97 million to expand the board production at the Skoghall site in Sweden. At the same time, the company is initiating a pre-feasibility study to convert the second, currently idle, line at its Oulu site in Finland, to a packaging board line.

Valmet will supply a repeat order of an OptiConcept M board production line for Pratt Industries in Henderson, Kentucky, USA. The mill will use 100% recycled paper products to produce lightweight, high-strength containerboard and corrugated board grades.

Metsä Board, part of Metsä Group, has awarded AFRY the engineering assignment for the investment to increase their folding boxboard production capacity in Husum mill, Sweden. The investment will lead to an increased production capacity of 200,000 tonnes, to meet a growing demand for sustainably produced packaging materials.

International technology group Andritz has received orders from Naturheld GmbH to supply two fiber preparation systems for its new production line in Grafenwöhr, Germany. With this project, Naturheld is also entering the insulation material sector. Start-up is scheduled for the second half of 2022.

The Marutomi Group fired up a Toscotec-supplied Modulo-Plus ES tissue machine at its Ono Paper’s mill in Fuji city, Japan. This is the second of two tissue lines supplied by Toscotec to the Marutomi Group, who implemented a strong expansion in the Japanese market. The first machine came online in the third quarter of 2019 at Marutomi Paper’s mill.

Sappi Europe can no longer absorb the full extent of the unprecedented increase in energy prices and announces the intention to apply a general energy surcharge across all products. A surcharge of € 100.- / ton will be applied to all invoices dated from 25 October 2021 until further notice and is in addition to any current and future price increases.

According to the European Commission it has announced inspections in locations at several member states at the premises of companies active in the wood pulp sector. Stora Enso was included in the European Commission’s inspection through a visit conducted by the Finnish Competition and Consumer authority at its headquarters in Kanavaranta, Finland. Stora Enso is cooperating fully with the authorities.

ABB will provide two next-generation L&W Autoline automated paper testing systems to MM Board & Paper (MM) and has secured a new service agreement with the major packaging manufacturer. The new solution will modernize and optimize quality control and minimize operational costs at the company’s Frohnleiten mill.

European Commission has started an inspection on Metsä Fibre, a subsidiary of Metsäliitto Cooperative, under EU antitrust rules as part of larger investigation of the market for wood pulp sector. According to current information Metsä Board is not subject to investigations. Metsä Fibre will cooperate in full with the European Commission authorities.

Valmet will supply key board machine technology to Zhejiang Forest United Paper in Taizhou in the province of Zhejiang in China. The key technology will be installed in a new container board machine (PM6). The start-up is scheduled for 2023. The order is included in Valmet's orders received of the third quarter 2021. The value of the order will not be disclosed. However, a project of this size and scope is typically valued at around EUR 10 million.

Cepi, the Confederation of European Paper Industries, appreciates the European Commission’s efforts to address the record-high energy prices in Europe. Access to affordable clean energy is a prerequisite for globally competitive European forest-based industries. Our “made in Europe” industry creates much-needed jobs and wealth!

Current General Counsel Katarina Nilsson will leave SCA on November 30 at her own request to take up a role as General Counsel in another company.

Andritz has received an order from SCA to rebuild a disc filter at their pulp mill in Ortviken, Sundsvall, Sweden. After the rebuild, the production capacity of the disc filter (originally supplied by Andritz) will be tripled to 900 bdmt/d, and the filtrate flow will be increased to a maximum of 130,000 l/min. The refurbished disc filter will ensure the requested throughput at different beating degree levels, ranging from 300 to 700 CSF, for the production of various high-quality pulp grades. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter 2022.

bio-fibre news

In autumn 2021, GAW technologies Graz / Austria was commissioned with the delivery of a continuous hydrosulphite dissolving system for the new textile recycling plant of Renewcell in Sundsvall / Sweden.

Valmet will rebuild the pretreatment system for RE Energy’s biorefinery in Kalundborg, Denmark. The order was included in Valmet’s orders received of the second quarter 2021 and the delivery is planned for the first half of 2022. The value of the order will not be disclosed.