Mondi gets to work on Russian mill overhaul

BRUSSELS, April 11, 2008 (RISI) - Mondi has begun work on a modernization program at its Syktyvkar plant in Russia’s Komi Republic. The Euro 525 million ($827 million) investment is due to be wrapped up in mid-2010.

The project includes a new recovery boiler, evaporation plant and woodyard from Andritz, which will also rebuild the mill’s two pulp lines. Metso Paper is to upgrade the facility’s white liquor plant, and Pöyry will provide engineering services for the work on the pulp mill. FMW Austria is to supply an automated chip storage and reclaiming system.

The woodyard will have the capacity to support pulp production of 875,000 tonnes/yr and will comprise two debarking lines, one for softwood and the other for hardwood. The plant’s pulp capacity currently stands at 680,000 tonnes/yr.

The mill’s short fiber pulp line will see its brown stock washing and bleaching upgraded, increasing its capacity to 1,500 tonnes/day. The long fiber pulp line’s continuous digester will be converted to a new cooking system and a new chip feeding system installed, boosting its capacity to 1,000 tonnes/day.

The project also includes rebuilds of the Syktyvkar mill’s uncoated woodfree PM 14 and containerboard PM 21. It is not clear who will carry out this work, which is expected to raise the plant’s total paper and board capacity from 780,000 tonnes/yr to 940,000 tonnes/yr.

The facility houses two uncoated fine paper units, PMs 11 and 14, with a combined capacity of 388,000 tonnes/yr, as well as the 200,000 tonne/yr PM 21 and a 192,000 tonne/yr newsprint machine, PM 15.