Pöyry has been awarded an assignment by CMPC Celulose Riograndense for the expansion of the company's Guaiba pulp mill in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. The assignment consists of Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) services for the Balance of Plant (BOP) and involves integrating the different processes of the mill. These engineering and project management services will start immediately. The parties have agreed that the value of the assignment is not disclosed. The project will be included in the Industry Business Group's first quarter 2013 order stock.

The capacity of the new state-of-the-art pulp mill is 1.3 million tonnes per year and the startup of the mill is planned for the first quarter of 2015. The bleached eucalyptus pulp production line is the largest investment in the CMPC history.

Pöyry has been involved in the project since October, 2010 when CMPC awarded Pöyry an assignment for feasibility studies and basic engineering. The company was also awarded a preparatory work for the mill infrastructure. Now Pöyry will be responsible for overseeing that the different parts of the plant will be efficiently developed and connected together. CMPC selected Pöyry for the company's exceptional track record and thought leadership in similar projects. The concept of the mill is based on the use of the best available technologies and the best environmental practices.

The contract further strengthens Pöyry's position as the world's leading engineering solutions provider for the pulp and paper sector.

Wood fiber costs for pulp mills fell in both North America and Latin America in the 4Q/12 because of weaker pulp markets and an increased supply of sawmill chips, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly

Lower pulp prices during last summer and an increased supply of sawmill chips put downward pressure on pulpwood prices in North America and Latin America in the 4Q/12, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly. The biggest declines occurred in Western US, British Columbia and Brazil.

Seattle, USA. Wood fiber prices trended downward in the local currencies in many of the key pulp-producing countries of the world in the fourth quarter. However, as a result of the weakening US dollar, wood fiber prices actually increased in US dollar terms in a number countries and the Softwood Wood Fiber Price Index (SFPI) was up slightly (+0.1%) in the 4Q/12 to $100.13/odmt. The biggest increases from the 3Q to the 4Q occurred in Eastern Canada, Finland, France and New Zealand, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly (www.woodprices.com).

The price declines in the local currencies were mainly the result of an increased supply of softwood fiber in regions with extensive lumber production. In the US Northwest, chip prices fell as much as 27 percent during 2012 and pulp mills in the region had some of

the lowest softwood fiber costs in the world in the 4Q/12.

Additional volumes of residual chips from increased lumber production, reductions in pulp production and pulpmill outages, and large supplies of pulplogs were all factors that contributed to the dramatic turnaround in fiber costs during 2012. A similar trend was

seen in Western Canada, where prices in the 4Q/12 were down 22 percent from late 2011, reaching their lowest levels in three years.

Hardwood fiber price movements were mixed, with hardwood pulplog prices generally trending downward in many of the key hardwood pulp-producing regions in both local currencies and in US dollar terms. This resulted in a decline in the Hardwood Wood Fiber Price Index (HFPI) to US$104.80/odmt in the 4Q/12. This was down 1.5 percent from the previous quarter and 7.8 percent from the 4Q/11.

The biggest decline in hardwood fiber prices occurred in Brazil where Eucalyptus log prices have fallen continuously for over a year from early 2011, when they were at their all-time highs. In the 4Q/12, prices in US dollar terms were back down to same levels as where they were in early 2009. Few regions in the world currently have lower hardwood costs than Brazil.

On November 19, 2012, the first state-of-the-art tissue machine in Morocco was started up at Jeesr Industries in Berrechid, close to Casablanca. The Metso-supplied Advantage DCT 100+ line smoothly came on stream according to plan and has been producing high quality paper from the very start.

“This investment is very important to us and we are of course pleased to see that the machine is operating according to our targets and that Metso have fulfilled our expectations,” says Souheil Badaa, Chief Marketing Officer, Novatis Group.

“We are very satisfied with what the Jeesr team and Metso have achieved here. The facility has a compact and efficient layout and both our crews have done a great job to ensure a smooth start-up as well as a continued optimal production,” says Gunnar Söderqvist, Project Manager, Metso.

Metso’s delivery included a complete production line with stock preparation equipment, an Advantage DCT 100+ tissue machine and a rewinder and wrapping equipment. The production line is optimized to produce top-quality tissue paper at low energy and water consumption levels. The delivery also comprised an extensive automation package including Metso DNA machine, process and integrated drive controls, and a Metso IQ quality control system with Metso IQ Fiber Weight Measurement.

The new production line is designed to produce around 30,000 tonnes a year of high-quality facial, toilet and towel grades mainly for the Moroccon market. The raw material for the new line is virgin pulp.

Jeesr Industries is a privately owned company, which is part of the Novatis Group, a producer and supplier of various consumer goods, among others  baby diapers, for the Moroccon market.

Noss will supply a new RADISCREEN-C coarse screen to Stora Enso, Oulu Mill, Finland. The screen shall be installed after the bleached eucalyptus kraft bale pulper for protection of downstream equipment. Start-up is scheduled for June 2013.

RADISCREEN-C is a highly energy-efficient protection system for a great variety of applications in the pulp and paper industry, covering a wide range of flows and consistencies with only one unit.

Noss Canada has received an order for new fiber recovery stages from a customer in Alberta, Canada to be installed in their Bleached Market Pulp Cleaning System. 

The new fiber recovery stages will replace the existing ones with the purpose of considerably improving the fiber recovery rate. 

The new equipment will complement the existing Noss approach flow system installed ahead of a NBSK Pulp Dryer headbox in 2004.

Noss received an order for three cleaner systems to APP Jin Feng Yuan Paper for their PM1 in Shanghai. The system start-up is scheduled for the third quarter of 2013.

PM1 is a 4-ply white chipboard machine started up in the1990’s. The product is well-known in China and gaining a large market share but the mill is aiming for even higher paper quality in the future. The Noss delivery  includes three RADICLONE AM80 systems, which are expected to improve the pulp cleanliness after start up.

Noss RADICLONE AM80 systems are particularly suitable for such applications with highest demand on pulp and paper cleanliness.

From Tissue World magazine, Emtec Electronic will give a talk and will also be exhibiting at Tissue World 2013.

It will discuss the Emtec TSA tissue softness analyser, which it said is “on its way to becoming an industrial standard worldwide as it opens completely new and exciting options for process optimisation, complaint management, product development and QA.”

General manager Giselher Grüner said: “In addition to this presentation, we have got the opportunity to organise a seminar about the "subjective vs. objective determination of the tissue handfeel".

"To give an overview of the different possibilities to influence the softness of tissue during its production, we will hear speakers from different parts of the tissue industry.”

At the end of the production process, the softness and the handfeel of the tissue has to be determined to assure the quality of such products.

He added: “On the one hand, subjective handfeel panels exist for this task and on the other hand the TSA Tissue Softness Analyser gives objective and reliable results.

"These two positions have to be considered but also to be combined, to reach the best results for the tissue quality in terms of softness.”

The company’s talk will also clarify whether the terms softness and handfeel are the same.

Additionally, Emtec Electronic will present the CAS Charge Analyzing System and the FPA Fibre Potential Analyser during the exhibition.

These devices are used for process optimisation in the wet end of paper machines to avoid overdosing of chemicals, so its application leads to savings in time, material and resources.

Furthermore, there will be information regarding the innovative Emtec FPO Fibre Potential Analyser Online, which measures the Zeta Potential directly in the production process.

source: http://www.tissueworldmagazine.com/ 

From Tissue World magazine, Ace Electrostatic will promote its de-dusting system for converting and printing tissue machines.

After just a short time since its introduction on the market, the company said that feedback for the DM1500/T series of ACE (Web Cleaner) dust elimination systems, specifically designed for the installation on napkin machines, can be considered “better than any of the brightest expectations”.

Daniele Barbui, sales and marketing director, said: “Immediately, the capacities of our systems to remove large amounts of paper dust and particles from the web were quite obvious and proved to have important advantages for customers in terms of great reductions in downtime for mechanical parts cleaning, as well as a more neutral product purity and printed with the best quality.

"This becomes a complete satisfaction for the final customer, and a fast return on investment.”

He added that unlike systems that only suck in the dust released into the environment during the manufacturing and processing of tissue paper, ACE web cleaners create a high frequency vibration directly on the web.

This is because of the double combined action of the HC16 series blowing and suction cleaning heads, which raises an enormous amount of dust (at the same time removed from the suction device of the system) that would otherwise be released in a later stage during the various steps of the processing.

On napkin machines, standard installation consists of a cleaning head installed after the unwinding of the reel and connected to the central dust collecting and filtering unit.

However, requests for multiple installations, consisting of two or three cleaning heads placed at different points of the line (embossing or folding), and always connected to a single de-dusting and filtering unit are constantly and rapidly increasing. 

The latter, thanks to a system of automatic and programmable cleaning of the filters, ensures excellent performance in dust separating and collecting.

ACE systems are currently installed by leading manufacturers directly on new machinery, but can be installed in the next step as a retrofit on existing lines.

ACE has now expanded its range in the tissue industry by developing a new set of systems for the cleaning of the web (DM3000/T series), specially designed for its installation on unwinders, rewinders and embossers, with widths up to 5,000mm.

All ACE web cleaning systems for the tissue industry are supplied in compliance with the ATEX Directive.

source: http://www.tissueworldmagazine.com/ 

From Tissue World magazine, Embossing World will promote its embossing and engraved rolls portfolio for tissue, kitchen towel, napkin, hanky, toilet paper, and converting paper products.

Based in Italy, the company has developed embossing rolls in pin-to-flat configuration and built-in perdurable steel.

A spokeswoman for the company told TW: “We will be at Tissue World Barcelona mostly to establish contacts with possible new customers, but we will also bring some engraving design proposals for the construction of roller bodies.

"As a company we build the roller body according to its technical design and then engrave it according to customer’s requests and instructions.

"Through our products we guarantee great care, quality, reliability, assistance and cooperation with the customer in order to satisfy even the most unusual request.”

The Embossing World site in Busto Arsizio comprises a production area of 5,000m².

source: http://www.tissueworldmagazine.com/ 

From Tissue World magazine, Convermat will be prioritising its ultra soft bath tissue and TAD products at Tissue World 2013.

The New York-headquartered business specialises in marketing and selling jumbo rolls a comprehensive offering of jumbo rolls of tissue, including toilet and facial tissue, napkin, toweling, medical grades, carrier tissue as well as air laid, MG, MF and other specialty wadding grades.

The furnishes consist of 100% virgin pulp, 100% recycled (post consumer content as needed), and mixed fibres tailored to its customer’s specifications.

The company with sales in more than 80 countries worldwide, retains the most comprehensive network of suppliers in the industry with mills across the North America, Asia, Europe and elsewhere.

As a result, Convermat is uniquely positioned to provide the most competitive pricing in any market condition and in any location around the globe.

In 2012, Convermat brought on board Felix Norman Macainan III, a tissue veteran for more than 20 years to lead and manage their new quality assurance department and their in-house lab testing facilities.

He has also been instrumental in developing a number of proprietary grades for our customers at respective mill facilities that we partner with.

Frank Shahery, Convermat’s marketing director, said: “With our increasing worldwide supplier network and customer base, Felix will be able to expand and elevate our service level to all our customers as well as our suppliers.

"Our new quality assurance department will further allow our customers to stay focused on their primary business.”

Convermat has offices in New York, California, Florida, Wisconsin, Mexico, and most recently in Hong Kong.

This will enable Convermat to have a physical presence in the Asian markets with more hands on service to the businesses they are currently managing in those markets, as well as other growth prospects.

source: http://www.tissueworldmagazine.com/