Arauco officials have pledged to make the environment a top priority at the new mill in Chile
February 2007
By Graeme Rodden, Editorial Director, Magazines
Nueva Aldea is off and running. Celulose Arauco Y Constitucion (Arauco)'s newest jewel started production in September 2006. With a permit level of 856,000 tonnes/yr (1,300 tonnes/day) of bleached kraft pulp, mill officials are looking at a relatively quick learning curve of nine months (May 2007) when it is hoped full capacity can be reached.
The Chilean mill started up with a production rate of 500 tonnes/day using eucalyptus. However, at full production, the mill will use both pine and eucalyptus (globulus and nitins), with an even split between the two. The mill was expecting to start producing softwood kraft pulp in January.
Except for a small amount of purchased chips, all of the wood used will come from Arauco's own plantations. The pine and eucalyptus will be separated in the woodyard. However, the two species of eucalyptus will be mixed after chipping and the company expects that the mill will use a 70:30 ratio of globulus to nitins. The nitins can be slightly more difficult to process.
Arauco can cut its eucalyptus as seven years of age. The pine can be cut at nine or 10 years, but it will only be harvested at 20 years because the pine is also destined for the company's sawmills. Hardwood yield is expected to be 53-54%, softwood, about 48%.
There are production two lines in the mill: Line One is for softwood and Line Two for hardwood. However, at startup, both lines were running eucalyptus. As noted, the hardwood and softwood lines are separated in the woodyard. Only the recovery area is common.
Kvaerner Pulping supplied both fiberlines while Kvaerner Power supplied the power and recovery boilers. Both units are now part of Metso Paper, which additionally supplied the two parallel pulp dryers as well as three baling lines. Andritz supplied the woodyard, limekiln and causticizing unit.
Emerson provided the Delta V distributed control system, while Metso Automation supplied the pulp analyzers and valves.
On the chemical side, Aga supplied the oxygen system while Akzo Nobel chlorine provided the ClO2 plant. Construction and startup went well according to mill production manager Ivan Cruzat, who noted the good cooperation between the various suppliers.
At startup, the evaporators, causticizing plant and limekiln had not been put into operation. But by late September these were all running.
Although pulp manufacturing basically follows a standard continuous kraft process, Nueva Aldea is the second mill in the world to have the (Metso Fiber Karlstad-formerly Kvaerner Pulping) Compact Cooking G2 process. This uses a larger amount of liquor in the digester than conventional systems. This is said to produce a more uniform pulp. The liquor to wood ratio in Nueva Aldea's digesters is 4-5:1 compared with the normal 2.7:1.
Cruzat says that pulp quality is already high. In late 2006, the mill was working to normalize brightness so as to stabilize chemical consumption. Brightness is usually 92 ISO.
Although similar bleaching sequences are used for pine and eucalyptus, these are not identical. The eucalyptus bleaching sequence features hot ClO2 in the first stage. The sequence is D0EOPD1D2. There is a GL&V (formerly Kvaerner Pulping) Compact Press between the D1 and D2 stages.
Although the mill did not plan to run pine pulp until early 2007, both pulp machines started up in September and early results show they are very reliable. Pulp enters the dryer at 53% dryness and exits at 90%. Nominal speed of the dryers is 250 m/min.
As with most kraft pulps, Nueva Aldea is energy self-sufficient and is able to sell 35 MW back to the grid. Water consumption is running about 30 m3/tonne.
The first big maintenance shutdown, 10 days, is scheduled for September 2007. This will allow the mill to take stock of the equipment after one year of operation. After, there will be regular 12-hour maintenance shutdowns and two general shutdowns annually, for a total of 11 days. It will be done in-house with some outsourcing. The mill's efficiency goal is 93%.
Environmental vigilance
The environmental troubles that Nueva Aldea's sister mill in Valdivia faced are well documented. Arauco is working hard to ensure a similar situation does not arise at the new mill. Chile's regional commission for the environment, COREMA, approved the mill's production targets contingent on the building of a pipeline to carry its effluent 3 km out to sea. The Pacific Ocean is 50 km away. The pipeline should be in operation in mid-2007. Until then, the final treated effluent is discharged into the Itata River. The mill has a three-stage effluent treatment system. The final sludge is pressed and sent to landfill.
Pulp mill manager Gunars Luks says no mill has been as closely audited in Chile as Nueva Aldea. The facility has to fulfill more than 700 environmental commitments and measure 400 environmental parameters daily. "We are meeting all of them. The meeting is running very well," the mill manager notes.
Luks maintains that Nueva Aldea's three priorities, in order, are: people, environment and production. "At this moment we are in a good learning curve. We are very proud of our team."
The "team" consists of 330 people. The main operators were recruited from other Arauco mills. However, there are many who are new to the industry. Training started in 2004 and was conducted mainly at the company's other mills.
Nueva Aldea is also very involved with the local community. It has started many joint ventures with small farmers and entrepreneurs. People who, as Cruzat says, "want to do something."
As could be expected, China is the mill's largest customer, buying 45% of Nueva Aldea's production. The mill also ships to Europe. There is a little sold within South America. Currently, the pulp is trucked to the port of Concepcíon. However, the rail link to the mill is being upgraded and this will be the main conduit to the port in the future.
According to Cruzat, Arauco is looking at adding another 1.3 million tonnes/yr of pulp capacity, probably through a combination of acquisitions and the building of greenfield mills.
But pulp is not all that Arauco can produce. One feature that visitors to the mill always notice is the vineyard that surrounds the entrance. It had been rented out to a farmer who sold the grapes. Now, Arauco has taken over the vineyard and will soon produce its own wine.
For the time being, things are progressing well for Nueva Aldea. Startup has been smooth through a normal debugging period. Luks adds that the owners have put a lot of emphasis on the environment. "We must maintain that well." This will be the key to continued community support.
As Cruzat says, "People are trusting us now, but are still waiting to see what will happen." The mill is working to ensure that nothing negative happens.
|
|
|
Celulose Arauco y Constitucion is Chile's largest forest products company. It operates six mills and when Nueva Aldea is at capacity it will be able to produce more than 2.5 million tonnes/yr of pulp, between 50 and 60% of which is bleached pine.
However, wood pulp accounts for only 42% of company sales, which reached $2.3 billion in 2005. Wood products such as lumber, plywood and medium density fiberboard account for 55% with a small amount of sales from "other" products such as turpentine and tall oil.
In Chile, the company's forest holdings include 632,000 ha of planted forest and 228,000 ha of native forest. It also has 245,000 ha planted in Argentina and Uruguay.
Its main wood pulp market is Asia, which accounts for 65% of sales. Another 27% of revenue comes from Europe. This is a total turn around from 1975 when Europe accounted for 65% of Arauco's sales. Sales to North America total 8% of total wood pulp revenue.
|
Pulp & Paper International is FREE to qualified subscribers.
Click here to find out more.
