Three major grade switching projects will add a fresh chunk of coated woodfree capacity to the European market next year, but is the sector ready for this extra tonnage?

By Caroline Jewitt

Putting on an extra coat in Europe

At the end of last year, UPM-Kymmene, Metsä-Serla and (the former) Modo Paper all decided to hail coated woodfree production as the profitable way forward for their businesses and switch some of their uncoated woodfree capacity over to coated woodfree production by the end of 2001.

UPM-Kymmene plans to change production on PM 8 at its Kymi Paper mill in Kuusankoski, Finland. The Euro 250 million ($234 million) rebuild will result in a capacity increase of some 100,000 tons/yr at the mill. PM 8 will stop producing its regular output of 300,000 tons/yr of uncoated woodfree to switch to 400,000 tons/yr of coated woodfree paper. The investment is due to start this year and should be completed in the second half of 2001.

PM 8 at Kymi Paper gets ready for an overhaul

The Finnish producer has appointed Jaakko Pöyry as the main engineering consultant for the rebuild. Part of the contract will be carried out by JP-Engineering, Kouvola and JP-Kakko, and includes complete engineering services. The contract is valued at Euro 7.5 million.

Valmet is to rebuild the 8.5 m machine under a Euro 150 million contract. The PM was originally supplied by Valmet and started up in 1983. The new project incorporates Valmet's OptiConcept technology and the bulk of the deal consists of a new off-machine OptiCoater paper finishing line. The project also includes a coating color kitchen, an OptiReel Plus reel, an OptiLoad multinip calender, an OptiMatt Slim-line soft calender, two OptiReel rereelers, a WinRoll winder and a WinBelt rewinder. On top of that, an existing winder will be rebuilt at the mill. At the end of the line, reels will be packaged and conveyed with a Streamline roll wrapping line, equipped with a Top Pack indexing overlap wrapping method.

On the machine itself, the Finnish supplier will add an OptiFlo headbox, OptiFormer, and SymPress B press section. The machine will also include an OptiSizer. Quality and control automation will be supplied by Neles Automation.

UPM-Kymmene says that the conversion is a strategic step toward producing high quality gloss and matt finished coated woodfree products. The move is geared toward meeting the growing demand for coated paper from merchants, magazine publishers and printers, according to the company.

Integrated innovation

Also in Finland, Metsä-Serla is planning to switch production on PM 4 from uncoated to coated woodfree paper at its Kangas mill. The company says it will stop producing 180,000 tons/yr of uncoated fine paper and change to coated woodfrees instead. The new capacity of PM 4 at the Finnish mill will be 240,000 tons/yr, according to the company.

Valmet is supplying a new type of online paper coating unit for the project. The equipment supplier hails its latest innovation as the only integrated blade coater and multi-nip calender to operate anywhere in the world. The scope of the order includes an OptiCoater coating machine equipped with two OptiCoat Jet blade coating stations, an online OptiLoad calender and OptiReel. On top of that, the delivery covers a shoe press, dryer section rebuild parts, a color coating kitchen and a Stream Line roll wrapping line featuring the TopPack wrapping method. Neles Automation is also booked in to supply renewed process automation based on its nelesDNA solution. Following the upgrade, PM 4 will have a running speed of 1,200 m/min with a reel width of 5.72 m. The upgrade is due for completion by March 2001.

As part of the Kangas mill investment, Metsä-Serla is also building a chemi-thermomechanical pulp (CTMP) plant at its Joutseno mill. The CTMP plant will supplement the company's raw material supplies for its paper and board mills. The unit is forecast to have a capacity of over 200,000 tons/yr and is due for completion toward the end of 2001. With the addition of the CTMP unit, Metsä-Serla is set to spend a total of FIM 1.2 billion on both mills. The company recently added Andritz to the cast of suppliers involved in the new fiber line project, which will raise the mill's total pulp capacity to 600,000 tons/yr.

Andritz is scheduled to deliver screening and cleaning equipment to Joutseno in the first quarter of 2001. Metsä-Serla has already signed up a raft of suppliers for the project. Valmet has been chosen to supply the pulp drying line, while Kvaerner Pulping will supply a continuous digester plant and washing facilities. The continuous digester plant will comprise an impregnation vessel and digester (including pipelines), both the largest of their kind in the world. The digester will have a base diameter of over 10 m and a height of 64 m. Cooking will be based on Kvaerner's Compact Cooking process, which is particularly suited to the production of reinforcement pulp.

Ahlstrom Machinery will supply equipment for brown stock washing, oxygen delignification, screening and bleaching. This part of the process will feature MC technology, MODUScreen screens and DrumDisplacer washers designed for a high capacity unit.

Husum still on course

Modo Paper was another fine paper producer that decided to jump on the coated bandwagon. Before its takeover by Metsä-Serla, the company unveiled a SEK 2 billion ($225 million) plan to switch production on PM 8 at the Swedish Husum mill.

Analysts previously saw Modo Paper's investment in coated paper as a smart move to protect the group against any future loss of market share in the office paper sector. In February this year, analysts claimed that Modo Paper had come up with a formula to make the company an attractive buy. In retrospect, they were absolutely right, as just a few months later, Metsä-Serla stunned the industry by scooping up all of the company's shares.

Following the deal though, at least one analyst was convinced that either the Husum or the Kangas investment would be called off to avoid overloading Metsä-Serla with coated paper capacity. But the equipment orders have been placed and both projects are racing ahead toward completion.

Valmet is booked in to supply a finishing line for double-coated fine paper at Husum, as well as providing equipment for the machine's upgrade. The PM's output will increase from 185,000 tons/yr of uncoated woodfrees to 300,000 tons/yr of coated fine paper. The scope of PM 8's modernization includes a headbox, an upgrade of the forming section and rebuilds of the press and drying sections. Installation work is due to begin on PM 8 by the end of this year and the company expects to see the machine start production in March 2001.

Modo Paper has also ordered three AccuRay Nexus quality control systems from ABB for PM 8. The order includes eight AccuRay smart platforms, sensors, controls and two Ulma Nti web inspection systems. The paper producer has contracted AF to oversee the project planning, administration and electrical engineering relating to the conversion. AF is also the chief consultant for the offline paper coating plant at Husum. Skanska has already built the new machine house for the equipment and installation of the coating machinery is well underway.

More on the way?

The Nordic producers are far from being the only companies to spark up a coating furor, though. One source has come up with the idea that Sappi is ready to restart its two mothballed coated woodfree PMs at the Gratkorn mill in Austria, depending on market conditions, of course. If the two PMs do swing back into action, they could add a further 200,000 tons/yr of coated woodfree capacity to the already expanding market.

"A restart is always one consideration, but then so is selling off the equipment or just leaving the PMs as they are," Sappi says. The company points out that no decision has been made so far on the PMs' future with Sappi.

Some suppliers are outraged by all the extra capacity coming on to the market. "This is not a good thing at all. It is a mistake to add more capacity. These people are not being responsible to their shareholders," one angry producer said. Even if some paper industry players are deeply concerned over the effect of widening the production net, other market observers are convinced that if the 8%/yr increase in European demand for coated fine paper over the last 10 years is anything to go by, the next decade should see enough demand to support the capacity boost.

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