Harmony between ecology and economics - Hans-Peter Sollinger, Voith Paper

By Mark Rushton, Editor, PPI magazine, RISI

BRUSSELS, Oct. 31, 2008 (Viewpoint) - Dr Hans-Peter Sollinger, president of Voith Paper, has spent the whole of his working life at the technological production end of the paper industry. Starting out as an engineer, he worked in a hands on role at one of Continental Forest’s mills in the US, where he was responsible for new projects, then moved back to Germany to work as an application engineer within Voith. Dr Sollinger has been at the company for 26 years and has been president since 2005.

It is now essential that all waste products from the process are utilized in one way or another, either to generate more energy in the form of burning rejects, or from waste water

PPI: The perception out there generally with the public is that that the paper industry is a major polluter and is stripping the planet of its natural resources. What is your response to these allegations?

Sollinger: It is true that generally the perception of our industry is not so good, but this is where the paper industry could make itself part of the solution, as opposed to part of the problem. It is a fact that out of the so called heavy industries, the paper industry’s environmental footprint is one of the smallest. For instance, does the general public know that at least 50 % of all paper we use comes from recovered material? What other industry could claim that one half of all its products come from recycled materials?

And then there is the virgin fiber situation. It is another fact that we increasingly don’t need to be cutting wood from old growth forests at all such are the developments that have been made in cultivating plantations specifically for papermaking. I have just recently returned from Brazil where they are making amazing progress planting hundreds of thousands of hectares on what was once bare ground and these types of developments are taking place in many other locations worldwide.

But speak to people who know a little bit more about paper, where it comes from, and its sustainability factors, and they will tell you that they love it. And when it comes to packaging, they always opt for paper over plastic. And on the recycling front the quality has now improved so much that there are two mills in Germany, Leipa in Schwedt and Steinbeis Temming in Glückstadt, which are producing outstanding 100 % recycled LWC paper and 100 % recycled copy paper respectively, and the owners are very proud of the fact that they get more money for these products than from products made from virgin fibers. So the message is getting through, it just needs more effort behind it.

“We are very active at carrying out energy audits and finding ways of making savings”

What do you see are the main problems the world wide paper industry is encountering at the moment, and what can papermakers be doing about them?

Increased wood and energy prices are the chief concern today which is driving the paper industry to use raw materials more efficiently, whether they be using virgin fibers or recovered paper as a raw material. The fact is it is now essential that all waste products from the process are utilized in one way or another, either to generate more energy in the form of burning rejects, or from waste water. This area is where Voith has been pioneering technologies through our Environmental Solutions division which has been developing systems for handling these rejects, and closing the loop in the water usage.

An example of one of these developments is the use of an R2S Anaerob-Reactor and a lime-trap. The process starts when waste water from a pre-acidification tank enters the R2S Anaerob-Reactor for cleaning. Here, organic wastes in the water are broken down and converted into biogas for power production. The waste water then flows into a lime-trap where the dissolved calcium is removed. Afterwards, some of this water passes through a conditioning stage for reuse by the production process as purified water. The remaining water is then discharged into a water treatment plant for aerobic processing. Due to the removal of calcium in the lime-trap, this entire process has proven to be significantly more economical as well as energy efficient.

The Environmental Solutions division has gone a long way to understand what issues are relevant to the marketplace, and we have had close consultation with not only our customers, but also printers and environmental organizations.

Is there much that a papermaker can do with existing production facilities, or is the general feeling that a complete new process would be the way forward?

We are very active in carrying out energy audits, and finding ways of making savings, but there is a limit to what can be done if using dated equipment. My guess is that using add on technology, a papermaker could probably save up to 10 % of energy costs. But I liken this scenario to owning a car; there is only a limited amount you can do to a 10 year old Mercedes for example. There comes a time when you really have to think about a completely new vehicle with all the new technology that is applied to it. Take our Atmos tissue machine for instance. This machine uses up to 45 % less energy than existing tissue machines for premium quality on the market, so straight away on installation the customer is making large savings.

What are the major challenges ahead for papermakers over the next ten years?

Papermakers challenges are the same as our challenges, and we have three goals that we are working hard to achieve over the next decade:
1. To increase recycling on a worldwide scale from the current 50 % to 70 %.
2. To reduce electrical energy use by half.
3. To have completely effluent free paper mills all over the world as part of normal operations.

At Voith, our priority has moved from making the biggest and fastest machines, as they obviously use more energy. Our central focus has now moved away from creating the 3000 m/min machine to the three crucial points above, and our R&D teams are fully engaged in working on those projects.

The Environmental Solutions division has gone a long way to understand what issues are relevant to the marketplace, and we have had close consultation with not only our customers, but also printers and environmental organizations

Going forward, how do you see Voith’s strength in the various regions?

The US is still a big market for us, especially the products and services side, but we are seeing some movement on investments in new machines, but which we can’t talk about just yet. The situation with the dollar recently has helped generate some interest, and we still see the US as a very important market.

In Brazil we are very strong, but it is dependent on the national growth, as paper is a very regional business. The recently started Klabin paper machine for liquid board is a highlight in this market. Klabin is the largest and newest virgin fiber board machine in Brazil producing some 350,000 tonnes of liquid packaging board per year.

China is an important market for us. We have eight orders on hand there currently. Furthermore, in the spring of next year, we will open our new technology and service center in Kunshan, which is called the “Voith Paper City”. We built it to better meet our customers’ needs in a region that continues to see tremendous growth for our business. We are strategically positioned at the forefront of China´s transformation into a global papermaking giant. This enhanced presence is a testimony of our commitment to support Chinese papermakers in taking the lead in the global paper business.

In Europe we also have some interesting projects mainly in board and packaging and less in graphic papers.

We are prepared for Russia to take off on the papermaking front, and have facilities there which already service our installed base. So far we have only seen activities on a smaller scale, rebuilds and small machine orders, in fact we have recently received an order for a small packaging machine, but we are watching closely for new developments on a larger scale.

Any acquisitions for Voith in the near future?

Only the smaller ones that will add value and compliment what we are already doing.

What about your personal challenges, what goals do you have?

There are so many opportunities in this industry, my goal would be to see the day when there is a perfect harmony between ecological and economic papermaking.

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