Metso to supply pulp equipment to Tamil Nadu in India

HELSINKI, Sept. 19, 2008 (Press Release) - Metso Paper will supply a new cooking plant and brown stock washing equipment for bagasse based mill Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd., situated in the province of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The new washing line will be taken into operation in early 2010. The value of the order is close to Euro 14 million.

Metso Paper's scope of delivery comprises cooking, screening, washing based on TwinRoll press technology, and an oxygen delignification stage. The order also includes basic engineering, field instruments as well as erection and start-up supervision services.

The target of the investment is to improve the pulp quality and to minimize the environmental impact by reducing the water consumption, the utilization of chemicals and the emissions outflow.

The new brown stock process will have a daily design capacity of 600 odt (oven dry tonnes) and will supply pulp to the bleaching process newly supplied and taken into operation by Metso Paper. The entire fiber line, including the brown stock and bleaching processes, will be the world's largest single line for bagasse.

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd. produces newsprint and printing & writing papers using hardwood and bagasse as the primary raw materials. The mill has India's largest production capacity at a single location.