In Sweden, pulp and paper forest company Metsä Board, a subsidiary of Finland-headed forest industry major Metsä Group, has signed an agreement with compatriot energy and forest industry technology provider Valmet Oyj for the supply of key technology including a new recovery boiler and upgrade of the existing evaporator for the planned renewal of the Husum pulp mill. The contract is conditional for Metsä Board making the final investment decision after receipt of the environmental permit.
The value of the order will not be disclosed although Valmet indicates that order with this scope of supply is usually valued in the range of EUR 100-150 million. The equipment is scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2021 assuming that Metsä Board makes the final investment decision to proceed – the environmental permit is estimated to be issued in the second quarter of 2020 after which Metsä Board will make a final investment decision, at the earliest.
The planned investment in the recovery boiler will reduce the energy costs of the mill, improve the reliability of production and decrease the duration of the annual maintenance shutdown. Own electricity generation, entirely based on renewable biomass, will double and increase the self-sufficiency in electricity of the integrate to over 80 percent. The investment would be a substantial step to take us towards our target of 100% fossil free mills. Valmet was chosen to deliver the recovery boiler and enhancement to the evaporation plant due to the good experiences we have had with them during the years, said Ari Kiviranta, Senior Vice President, Development, Metsä Board Oyj.
Valmet’s delivery includes a new high-power recovery boiler with a capacity of 4 300 tonnes dry solids per day (tDS/d) replacing two old recovery boilers. The recovery boiler has multiple high-power features, including high steam parameters and patented heat recovery from flue gas to combustion air.
The boiler is designed to fulfill tight emission regulations with a multilevel air system to optimize the combustion to reach low NOx levels and the dust emissions are removed with Valmet’s own electrostatic precipitator (ESP) technology. Valmet will supply all auxiliary equipment for the recovery boiler including electrification and instrumentation.
The upgrade of the existing evaporators with a TUBEL Super Concentrator will increase the final dry solids of the black liquor and by this increase the steam production in the recovery boiler. The open design of the Valmet TUBEL technology eliminates tube plugging and provides the highest mechanical reliability.
In addition, the delivery includes the Valmet Industrial Internet platform for connectivity for Performance Center services and to enable future use of value-adding applications.
We have good references for recovery boiler and evaporation technology as well as for our project execution capabilities with our latest similar projects. We were able to meet Metsä Board’s need for better energy efficiency and reliability with our high-power recovery boiler and super concentrator technologies as well as supporting Industrial Internet solutions, said Jussi Mäntyniemi, Vice President, Recovery Business unit, Valmet.
