Valmet has announced that it is to supply a demonstration scale plant for next generation dissolving pulp cooking to Sappi's Ngodwana mill in South Africa. The project will examine possibilities to extract bio-based materials from the cooking plant pre-hydrolysate stream for biochemicals.

Finland-headed energy and forest industry technology major Valmet has announced that it will supply a dissolving pulp cooking demonstration plant to Sappi in South Africa to explore and optimize the extraction of renewable biochemicals.
According to Valmet, the plant will be close to an industrial size and will be located at Sappi’s Ngodwana mill. The demonstration plant will make it possible to study the next generation dissolving cooking process and test new ideas in mill scale. Start-up of the new plant is scheduled for the beginning of 2017 and the value of the order has not been disclosed.
In this project, Sappi and Valmet will together take the next step in dissolving pulping and explore new revenue possibilities in the dissolving pulp production. These new revenues include possibilities to extract bio-based materials from the cooking plant pre-hydrolysate stream such as sugars and lignin to beneficiate to higher value biochemicals.
– This investment in new technology continues to support Sappi’s strategic direction of seeking new bio-based opportunities and at the same time will generate a platform with associated benefits for further increased volumes and quality of dissolving wood pulp, said Andrea Rossi, Sappi’s Group Head Technology in a statement.
– We are very pleased that Sappi has selected Valmet as the supplier of the Ngodwana mill dissolving cooking demo plant. Our common target is to create the next generation dissolving pulp cooking concept which has the potential to be a game-changer for our industry the coming years. The main features of the new concept are higher dissolving pulp quality, lower operating cost, and a new optimized hydrolysate revenue stream. This project is in line with our R&D targets to provide advanced technologies and promote the use of renewable materials. This will also further strengthen our market leadership position within dissolving pulp technology, said Lars Sjödin, Director at Valmet’s Fiber Processing business.