Valmet has announced that it is to supply key technology for a new greenfield dissolving pulp mill for Sun Paper in Muang Phin, Laos.
Valmet, a Finland-headed technology provider for the forest- and energy industries has announced that it will deliver key technology for a new greenfield 250 000 tonne per annum dissolving pulp mill to Sun Paper’s new investment in Laos.
Sun Paper is one of the biggest private enterprises in China covering many fields such as papermaking, chemical industry, foreign trade, power, scientific research, forestry and paper industry, hotel, investment, textiles, and food. Its annual pulp and paper production capacity is around 5.7 million tonnes.
The mill site, Muang Phin, is located in the southern province of Savanakhet. The target is to start pulp production during the 2nd quarter of 2018. The value of the order is around EUR 20 million.
– This is our first international investment where we are expanding beyond China. Laos has shown to be a good location for this mill from where we will supply high profit dissolving to China. China is an important market for dissolving pulp and we expect to gain higher profits from dissolving pulp compared to kraft pulp in China, said Liu Yanbo, Mill Manager at Sun Paper in a statement.
Wood powder firing
Valmet’s scope of supply to Sun Paper includes batch cooking with engineering package, brown stock and bleaching presses for the fiber line, wood powder firing, belt dryer and lime kiln. Valmet also establishes site services for all goods delivered.
According to Valmet, batch cooking is an ideal fit for this kind of dissolving pulp production as the process can utilise raw materials with varying quality. In addition, the wood powder firing solution provides fuel for the lime kiln solution and reduces the need for fossil fuels and its implementation is first of its kind in the Asia Pacific region.
– We are very pleased to start this dissolving pulp mill project together with Sun Paper. Valmet has long experience and a wide scope of technologies in supplying equipment and processes for the production of dissolving pulp for various end products. Together with our customer we will create a mill producing pure high-quality pulp, said Pasi Mäkelä, Vice President, Pulp Mill Sales at Valmet.
Valmet has strong market position and is systematically increasing its presence at the Asia Pacific region. All of Valmet’s businesses are present in the area and in 2015 it represented about 13 percent of Valmet’s net sales, excluding China that represented another 10 percent of Valmet’s net sales. Valmet has 10 service points in the area and is opening a new services center in Indonesia in 2017.