Century orders new pulp line for Indian plant

SINGAPORE, May 16, 2008 (RISI) - India's Century Pulp & Paper has ordered a new bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) pulp line from Metso. The 450 tonne/day unit will be installed at its Lalkua plant in the northern state of Uttaranchal.

Installation of the new line is scheduled to begin in February or March next year, with startup to follow in December. The value of the order is some Rupee 2 billion ($47 million).

The BHK output will feed a new tissue machine the firm is installing at a greenfield site next to the Lalkua mill. The new 120 tonne/day Metso PM is set to start up in the third quarter this year. It will have a trim width of 2.85 m and an operating speed of 2,000 m/min.

The Lalkua facility currently houses four machines producing 209,000 tonnes/yr of printing/writing paper. It also has a 35,000 tonne/yr specialty pulp line and a 70,000 tonne/yr deinked pulp line.