News Lines
By Anonymous
News shorts from the pulp and paper world
CHINA
Metso Paper is extending its service center in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. The roll service capacity of the center will be doubled to enable Metso to serve a wider customer base and to offer more flexible and faster service. The extension will be completed in October 2007.
Akzo Nobel’s pulp and paper chemicals business, Eka Chemicals, has officially opened a new site in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, doubling its presence in China. The facility will produce high quality paper chemicals for the rapidly expanding Chinese paper industry.
FINLAND
UPM has signed an agreement with Pyry Energy, which will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for a tall oil plant. The value of the contract was not disclosed.
The project comprises a crude tall oil plant based on Poyry Energy’s proprietary HDS (Hydro Dynamic Separation) technology. Similar equipment has so far been installed in 18 modern pulp mills in Europe, Canada and China. Currently, Poyry has two similar projects in progress, one in Finland the other in Sweden. Key features of the plant include high yield and product quality, good operating reliability and low maintenance costs, it says.
The tall oil project relates to UPM’s rebuild of the chemical recovery plant at its Kymi pulp mill, where two outdated chemical recovery lines will be replaced by one modern line. The rebuilt recovery plant is scheduled to go on stream during summer 2008.
GERMANY
Voith has inked an agreement to acquire LSC Process- und Laborsysteme GmbH. As of January 1, 2007, LSC becomes an independent member of the Voith Group of Companies. Voith says that the acquisition is motivated by the strategic importance it attaches to measurement systems, including scanners and sensors, for the Voith Paper Automation product portfolio.
JAPAN
Nippon Paper has, through Yaskawa Siemens Automation & Drives Corp. (YSAD)1 contracted Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) to supply and install electric drive technology for the new, 9.6 m-wide, PM N6 at Ishinomaki mill.
The order is worth some Euro 8.5 million ($11.3 million) and the new paper machine is scheduled to start operating in November 2007.
Siemens is supplying all the drive equipment for the PM. A total of 116 motors with a connected load of 30 MW will be fed via Sinamics 120S converters. Also included in the scope of supply are 24 drives for two Metso reel-cutting machines.
POLAND
Kemira has bought Mondi’s stake in the joint venture Kemira Swiecie. Kemira previously owned 65% of the shares and Mondi 35%. Kemira produces crude tall oil at Mondi’s site in Swiecie. Tall oil is used for further processing at Kemira’s site in Krems, Austria. The tall oil cooperation with Mondi will continue as before.
Kemira Swiecie also produces and sells a variety of other paper chemicals. Kemira is planning to further develop its business in eastern Europe, and is looking into possibilities to increase the production of paper chemicals in Poland. Taking sole ownership of Kemira Swiecie is part of Kemira’s strategy to strengthen its position in growing markets.
SWITZERLAND
Andritz has acquired the paper coating division of Bachofen + Meier AG, Biilach, Switzerland (BMB). This business line will be folded into Andritz Kiisters. “We have been in close cooperation with BMB for years and appreciate the competency of our new colleagues”, stressed head of distribution, Andritz Kiisters, Thorsten Koth. “There have already been many joint projects where we could gain experience and on which we can build. This way our offer of cardboard machines, in particular, is markedly strengthened. We now have a comprehensive solution for our customers, because system- wise roll, coating installation and calender form a coherent unit.”
WORLDWIDE
The European Commission has granted Metso Paper conditional approval for its planned acquisition of Aker Kvaemer’s Pulping and Power business units. The approval was granted after Metso agreed to sell off some of its assets to GL&V. The Canadian supplier has secured the proprietary rights, patents, know-how, trademarks and part of the manufacturing machinery relating to the pulp washing, oxygen delignification and bleaching business of Kvaerner Pulping, including Kvaerner’s Compact Press wash press technology, along with Metso’s SuperBatch cooking technology. The sales and purchase transaction between Metso and GL&V was set to be closed before the end of December 2006, immediately after Metso’s acquisition of part of Aker Kvaerner’s operations had been finalized.
Call for papers
Transport Symposium show management invites forest products logistics professionals to submit an abstract for possible presentation at Transport Symposium 17. Transport Symposium is the industry’s most comprehensive event dedicated to the transport, handling, and distribution of forest products. The 2007 program will take place October 15-17,2007, at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Mobile Bay, Alabama.
For details of the submissions procedure contact Wendy Parsley at wparsley@quintstrategies.com. Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2007. For further information visit: http:// www.transportsymposium.com
Copyright Paperloop, Inc. Jan 2007
(c) 2007 PPI; Pulp & Paper International. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.