By Annie Zhu, Associate Editor, Pulp & Paper International magazine
BRUSSELS,
Aug. 6, 2009
(RISI) -
Northern China's pulp and paper industry woke up with Hebei Yongxin Paper kicking off its commercial run on a 400,000 tonne/yr recycled linerboard machine, PM 6, at its mill in Luannan County, Hebei Province, in northern China.
With a total investment of RMB 880 million ($129 million), the new PM exceeds the mill's existing capacity: five recycled containerboard machines with a combined output of 300,000 tonnes/yr. With PM 6, Hebei Yongxin Paper is the largest containerboard producer in northern China.
"The startup went very smoothly and it only took three hours to start up the machine thanks to Andritz's advanced technology and our good operation. We have every confidence that the new line will meet the growing demand in the northern part of China," says Wu San Luo, general manager of Hebei Yongxin Paper.
PM 6 supply
Andritz supplied the complete production line: stock preparation, machine, winder and automation. It demonstrates Andritz's ambition to join the competition for the growing paper/board market in China, which has traditionally been dominated by big players like Metso and Voith. In the past decade, Andritz in China has focused on tissue and pulp line installations.
"The successful completion of this milestone project for both Hebei Yongxin Paper and Andritz shows one more time how important mutual cooperation is. When it comes to realizing a large-scale project like this, one must keep focus not only on a profitable plant set-up, but also having environmental issues in mind and including domestic equipment as much as possible, thus keeping to the goals of the Industrial Ministries for enhancing domestic production," Michael Pichler, senior vice president, division manager, Andritz Group, said at the PM 6 opening ceremony.
PM 6 has a wire width of 6.2 m, web width of 5.66 m, and a design speed of 1,100 m/min, with an average running speed of 1,000 m/min.
The unit has been designed for the production of kraftliner paper in a basis weight range of 100-200 g/m², while the basis weight of current production is 110-175 g/m².
"The machine was built according to the proven PrimeLine Concept, featuring the most efficient equipment needed to produce high-quality packaging paper," says Robert Dokter, general manager, paper machines and paper finishing for Andritz in China.
The machinery includes a multi-layer Prime Form and a PrimePress X. The complete dryer section is both single-tier and double-tier and equipped with a PrimeCoat Film and a PrimeAir. A PrimeReel is used for winding parent rolls up to 3.6-m maximum diameter.
Apart from the paper machine, Andritz also supplied an extensive automation package including machine and quality control systems, as well as the hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
Furthermore, the Andritz scope of supply included the complete stock preparation system, the approach flow system, various engineering services, as well as the supervision of installation, startup and optimization.
"We are satisfied with the stock preparation system as it breaks down pulp in a gentle way, without destroying the fiber. Secondly, the screen yield is high and the whole process is consistent. Thirdly, the whole process is energy efficient," says Yuan You Ming, vice chief engineer, Hebei Yongxin Paper.
Major components for the paper machine were produced at Andritz's facility in Graz, Austria. Additional components, including the stock preparation line, were manufactured by Andritz Technologies in Foshan, China.
"Just to give you an idea about this 5.6-m wide (trim width) and 1,100 m/min speed and 500 m long production facility, it was supplied with 6,000 technical drawings, 2,500 components manufactured and sourced in China, and 1,850 components shipped from Austria," adds Pichler.
PM 6 features some technical highlights: As kraftliner needs bulk and needs to deliver immense cost-efficiency these days, it has PriXDoubleXNip to make sure the goals can be reached.
PM 6 also employs a new drive concept. The mill decided to use a modern single driven dryer section with gearboxes on the frame, which helps reduce vibration and energy consumption.
Andritz Automation also supplied the complete distributed control system (DCS) for the entire production line with a decentralized local I/O cabinet as well as all other process automation. This included a Prime Line for the stock preparation, paper machine and auxiliary plants.
"After the success of the board machine supply, we are also looking into printing and writing machines and supplying other paper machines," says Dokter.
Other suppliers for PM 6 include Siemens, which supplied the complete SIPAPER drive solution for the machine's sectional drive and winder.
Raw materials
PM 6 has three pulp lines with a daily production capacity of 1,570 tonnes/day. These include a mixed waste paper line at 1,000 tonnes/day, an old corrugated container (OCC) line at 350 tonnes/day, and a 220-tonne/day wood pulp line.
"The new stock preparation equipment can extract the long fibers from OCC, enabling the PM to make the highest quality Chinese linerboard, the A grade, which is a krafttop liner. This has better strength properties than the lower quality B and C grades," says Wu. Quality B is also a krafttop liner and Quality C is a testliner.
Currently, the company obtains mixed waste paper in China from its own raw material collecting companies. "We have waste paper recycling companies located in Beijing, Tianjin, Harerbin, and Shenyang, which provide 1,000 tonnes/day mixed waste paper for the mill. We use around 35,000-40,000 tonnes/month of domestic waste paper and also import around 15,000 tonnes/month of OCC from the US," says Luo.
"We established these waste paper collecting companies as part of the project's development, so they can provide us with sufficient and also high quality raw material from the domestic market. It should be more efficient cost wise compared with many mills in China which are using OCC from abroad," says Wu.
In addition, the mill uses purchased market pulp to feed the unit. "Currently, we use pulp from South America, for example, Gold Star," says Wu. The mill uses 4,000 tonnes/month of market pulp.
Environmental issues
Water consumption has also been an issue. China launched a new Discharge Standard for Water Pollutants in May 2009, with an aim to tighten restrictions on water consumption and COD discharge of both existing mills and new mills, and to shut non-compliant businesses. This, in turn, will benefit the sustainable growth of the industry and those companies with good environmental track records. The standard will be further tightened in July 2011.
According to the new standard, all effluent water must go to a biological treatment plant and paper machine water consumption is required to be below 20 m³/tonne of paper/board produced (with recovered paper used as fiber). In addition, the limit of water consumption for pulp producers, pulp and paper/board integrated producers, and also paper/board producers is at 80 m³/tonne of pulp produced, 60 m³/tonne of paper produced and 20 m³/tonne of paper produced, respectively.
"Currently, the mill uses around 10 m³/tonne water for each tonne of board produced, well below government regulations, thanks to the high technology supplied by Andritz, " says Yuan.
In addition, the limits for COD discharge according to the new standard launched in May are 200 mg/L (pulp producer), 120 mg/L (pulp and paper integrated producer, recovered paper used as fiber), 150 mg/L (pulp and paper integrated producer, virgin pulp used as fiber), and 100 mg/L (paper producer)
Though the government has become stricter about the industry's environmental issues, Yuan believes that the mill's COD discharge is fine. "The mill's COD discharges are around 80 mg/L, again below the government's requirement, and is among the lowest of similar mills in China, though it is hard to improve further," adds Yuan.
Currently, Hebei Yongxin Paper has a steam supply and power generation plant, with three 75-tonne/hr fluidized bed power boilers, and two 12,000-kW turbines.
However, the current equipment can't meet the full demand of the mill. Hebei Yongxin Paper plans to expand the steam supply and power generation plant capacity this year, as supporting facilities for PM 6. This project has already received government approval.
"We will add one 110-tonne/hr boiler, with the capacity to burn all the waste from the mill. The waste will account for 30% of the fuel needs for the boiler. In addition, we will add a 15,000-kW electrical generating set, which will meet the needs of steam supply for the mill; however it still can't meet the need for electricity supply," says Luo.
"The new plans will be environmentally friendly and also economically beneficial," adds Yuan.
Emerging northern market
Hebei Yongxin Paper is situated in north China, around three-hour drive from Beijing and is surrounded by the magnificent Yellow Sea area resorts in a rural area whose economy is picking up speed.
The mill is one of the most successfully operated paper mills in northern China, which managed to prosper in times when the northern Chinese paper industry was struggling with the transition from the former stated-owned enterprises into modern, partly privatized and profitably managed companies. The new PM 6 has upgraded the company's products to compete with imports and local brands.
Hebei Yongxin Paper - transformed from state owned Hebei Jiteng - is a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based firm, Wing Fat Printing. The printer is owned by Shanghai Industrial Holdings, whose main owner is the Shanghai municipal government. Both Wing Fat Printing and Shanghai Industrial Holdings are listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Wing Fat Printing owns 78% of Hebei Yongxin Paper, while the other two companies, Tianjin Xinnan and Tianjin Tiannan account for 20% and 2% of the company.
It is well known that the containerboard market in China is dominated by Nine Dragons and Lee and Man, which could be a threat to the mill, though the sector has already seen over supply due to a slowdown in the economy and exports.
One of Hebei Yongxin Paper's potential competitors in the region is Nine Dragons. The containerboard giant is still set to bring online two recycled containerboard machines at a greenfield facility in Tianjin municipality in the third quarter this year, though its other new projects have been postponed amid slowing exports in China. The units in Tianjin are PM 25 (450,000 tonnes/yr of linerboard) and PM 26 (350,000 tonnes/yr of lightweight fluting).
However, Hebei Yongxin Paper shows no concern, due to its well-established customer base in the region. "The Chinese containerboard market has mainly been affected by decreased exports, but we are aiming for the domestic market. Hebei Yongxin Paper is derived from Hebei Jiteng, a state owned company. We have been in the industry in Hebei for years and have big influence in the market. We are sure that our products will meet with growing demand," says Wu.
In addition, PM 6's products were designed to compete with the big players in the market. "PM 6 can produce various products. For example, low weight and high strength board, which are similar to the products produced by Nine Dragons and Lee and Man. What's more, PM 6 can also produce "A" quality board with virgin fiber in the furnish. The plans for the existing PM 5 are to produce board between grade A and B, which is also in high demand in the market," adds Wu.
Wu believes that local small mills should not be a threat to Hebei Yongxin Paper either as they might be pressured to close under the Chinese government's plans to shut down inefficient, outdated pulp and paper plants across the country. The aim is to reduce pollution, conserve water resources and save energy.
"In Tangshan, there are some small mills which produce 800,000 to 1 million tonnes/yr low quality containerboard and they can't meet the government's strict environmental regulations, and will shut down eventually," says Wu.
Hebei Yongxin Paper currently does not have concrete plans to add converting plants, though some thoughts are in the pipeline. "We are still considering the locations, either in Beijing or Tianjin. We are still in talks with several partners," says Wu.
In the future, Hebei Yongxin Paper plans to tap into cigarette packaging, and its parent company Wing Fat Printing already has well established clients in China.
Currently, Hebei Yongxin Paper has 1,200 staff, among which 350 people hold university degrees and 100 people have a technical background. "We hope that the new project will bring more professional people into our company" says Wu.
Once asleep in terms of the pulp and paper industry, Northern China is clearly waking up and is following the booming areas of Guangdong and Shandong in becoming a top player in country's supplier of paper and board. 
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