below please find a selection of the latest news from the world of pulp and paper. And don't forget to visit our new LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. We look forward to a lively exchange.

ipw news

Solenis, global producer of specialty chemicals, has opened two new international centers of excellence to help drive more sustainable solutions for the consumer paper packaging industry. One center is virtual, allowing customers to participate remotely in lab experiments, while the other center is in a new facility in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Both centers are designed to simulate and test customer processes, treatment programs and paper/paperboard properties to optimize performance, efficiency and costs while focusing on sustainability.

Austrian paper manufacturer Laakirchen Papier AG has commissioned full-line supplier Voith to implement the comprehensive rebuild of PM 11 at its Laakirchen site. The company, which is part of the Heinzel Group, is converting the plant from the production of graphic papers to containerboard. The planned start-up of the rebuilt production line is in the second quarter of 2024, increasing the production volume from 350,000 tons of SC papers to 500,000 tons of containerboard per year. The order was preceded by a preliminary project with Voith that showed the customer the economically viability of the PM 11 rebuild.

Dr. Ilona Leppänen, hailing from Finland, has been recognised amongst the world's best young researchers working in forestry and forest product innovation. Her work tackles a global issue related to plastics for which no solution existed so far. After winning prizes for her work at both national and European level, the 29-year old researcher has been selected to represent Europe in the next round of the international Blue-Sky Young Researcher Innovation Awards, a major distinction in the field of forest-based materials and processes research that is awarded biennially.

Increased plant availability, more planning reliability and a modernized working environment: PKV's cartonboard production needed a new hall for all these goals. The challenge: to build this replacement on site without paralyzing production. Now the project has been successfully completed.

Jari Suominen, Executive Vice President (EVP), Forest division and a member of the Group Leadership Team, has decided to leave Stora Enso. After more than 25 years with the Company, Jari will now pursue career opportunities outside of Stora Enso. Per Lyrvall, currently EVP Legal, has been appointed as new EVP Forest division. Per will assume the role beginning of December and continue as a member of the Group Leadership Team (GLT).

The Fedrigoni Group has signed an agreement with Papeterie Zuber Rieder, aimed at joining forces and creating the first global player in premium papers for wine & spirits. The execution of binding documentation, and the completion of the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Papeterie Zuber Rieder, remain subject to the consultation of the works council of Papeterie Zuber Rieder.

Saudi Paper Group selected Toscotec for a second tissue line to be installed at its Dammam facility in Saudi Arabia. The new Ahead 2.2L machine (PM5) will be a full-on turnkey project and it follows Toscotec’s supply of a complete Ahead 2.2S line that is currently undergoing erection at the same tissue mill. The start-up of PM5 is scheduled for 2024.

“Shaping a renewable future with fibre-based packaging” is the title of this year's two-part live webinar series conducted by Eurosac, the European Federation of Multiwall Paper Sack Manufacturers, and Cepi Eurokraft, the European Association for Producers of Sack Kraft Paper for the Paper Sack Industry and Kraft Paper for the Packaging Industry.

Valmet entered into an agreement on November 9th to acquire the U.S. based NovaTech Automation’s Process Solutions business. The value of the acquisition will not be disclosed. The acquisition is estimated to be completed on January 1st, 2023 at the earliest. NovaTech Automation’s Process Solutions business specializes in process control and optimization solutions for batch, continuous and hybrid processes. The Process Solutions business has a turnover of approximately USD 18 million and employs more than 90 people in the United States and the Benelux countries.

For the 16th time, the jury of the German Sustainability Award (DNP) has nominated outstanding innovations in the field of sustainability. Out of more than 1,000 applicants, Voith's XcelLine paper machine is a finalist in the “Design” competition in the “Vision” category. With eight competitions, the high number of applicants and more than 2,000 guests at the award’s closing events, the DNP is the most comprehensive award of its kind in Europe. The award is based on the goals of the 2030 Agenda and thus on the key transformation fields such as climate, biodiversity, resources, supply chain and society.

Metsä Board was chosen as Finland’s best organisation in 2022. The company won both the Finnish Circular Economy Award and the Finnish Quality Award presented by Excellence Finland. In addition, Metsä Spring won the Quality Innovation Award, and Metsä Fibre as well as Metsä Forest were recognised for their development work.

Smurfit Kappa announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Pusa Pack S.L., a bag-in-box packaging plant located in Onda, close to Castellón in the Valencian region. Pusa Pack S.L. specialises in the manufacture of large-capacity flexible bags, sized from 200 to 1500 litres ,which are used for the storage and transport of bulk food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and other liquid and semi-liquid products. Pusa Pack will be integrated into Smurfit Kappa’s Bag-in-Box operations in Spain.

In 2022 Toscotec has managed more than 25 tissue machine rebuilds for leading manufacturers that remain confidential. The projects are located at different mills across 6 continents: Africa, North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

BASF SE is the latest addition to Cepi’s partnership programme with pulp and paper industry suppliers, reinforcing Cepi’s position as a key player in the process of defining a new, greener and more circular industrial model for the EU. Cepi is the Confederation of European Paper Industries. Its partnership programme answers the complexity of the paper value chain and the need for expertise on relevant issues. It serves as a forum for discussion and the exchange of technical information in the policy context of the European Union. Current partners are OMYA, Voith, Valmet, Buckman and Afry.

bio-fibre news

The international trade of wood pellets has increased yearly for over ten years thanks to growing demand in Europe and Asia. Although shipments in the first half of 2022 were practically unchanged from the same period in 2021, an anticipated increase in demand in Europe in the second half of the year is likely to make 2022 another record year of close to 30 million tons shipped worldwide. The most significant change is the rising demand in Asia, with Japan and South Korea having become the second and fourth largest markets in the world, respectively. The United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium continue to be the major import markets in Europe.

In this year's “Hot Button Report”, released on November 9, 2022, by environmental NGO Canopy, Kelheim Fibres has once again achieved a top position with a dark green/green shirt and was able to improve its overall ranking by another 1.5 points compared to the previous year. The Hot Button Report thus confirms the viscose speciality fibre manufacturer's role when it comes to conserving Ancient and Endangered Forests.

Renaissance Textile in Laval, France has successfully started up a complete textile recycling line, delivered, installed, and commissioned by Andritz Laroche, part of the international technology group Andritz. The state-of-the-art textile recycling equipment enabled Renaissance Textile to become the first French recycling platform dedicated to industrial end-of-life textiles. The project aims to produce new fibers from the collected post-consumer apparel, which will be used to weave new recycled fabrics in the end.

Lecta has decided to invest in a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) boiler for its Condat paper mill in France, which will be finished by mid-2024. This is a great energy transformation project that presents multiple environmental and economic advantages, in line with the Sustainability goals that Lecta is working on. The RDF boiler project is based on circular economy, and Lecta will collect from local sources the waste with high biogenic content that will be used as fuel. This will help to reduce the volume of waste that currently cannot be recovered and would otherwise end up in landfills.

Klabin has successfully started up a biomass gasification plant at the Puma Unit, located in Ortigueira/PR, Brazil, with a new biomass treatment line supplied by Andritz. The gasification plant enables 100% fossil-free operation of the lime kiln by replacing all heavy fuel oil currently burned in one of the mill’s lime kilns, significantly reducing the Klabin pulp mill’s carbon footprint.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has expanded the application of its Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) toolbox ProperTune beyond hard materials like metals to now model and design soft materials like wood, polymers and plastics. This allows companies to cut down product development time by at least 50%, decrease cost elements of product development, reduce environmentally harmful materials and design entirely new materials that perform better. This expanded use of ICME makes it fast and economically viable for the replacement of an increased number of unsustainable materials while providing improved material performance.