Valmet and Klabin rewriting textbook with Eukaliner kraftliner
VALMET equipment to Klabin’s mas- sive PUMA II project in Brazil which is challenging the con- IS DELIVERING THE cept that softwood pulp is required to make high-quality kraftliner. Its new OptiConcept M kraftliner machine will produce Eukaliner – the world’s first kraftliner using 100% eucalyptus.
The PUMA project consists of an expansion of the PUMA I project, on the same site, with the addition of two pulp integrated paper machines (kraftliner) and associated fibre lines. The expansion is divided into two phases. Phase 1 will increase PUMA I’s capacity from 1,578,000 to 1,598,000 t/year and produce an additional 450,000 tons of kraftliner paper on the new PM 27 line. Pulp for the new paper machine will be supplied through a new fibre line, bringing total site production to 2,048,000 t/year. Phase 2 will add another fibre line and an additional kraftliner machine (PM 28), with 475,000 ADt/year capacity, bringing total site production to 2,523,000 ADt/year. Phase 1 completion is scheduled for 2021 and phase 2 for 2023.
Traditionally, kraftliner board (KLB) has been made from long-fibre softwood pulp with no alternatives. However, short-fibre eucalyptus offers numerous advantages such as lower costs, higher yields and better print quality. Klabin began testing combinations of raw materials many years ago, and developed the concept to work with 100% eucalyptus.
In 2019, Brazil’s largest paper producer made the decision to move forward with the largest investment in its 121-year history: the Puma II project, which aims to produce 925,000 tonnes of high-quality kraftliner board annually from eucalyptus hardwood pulp.
Partnering with Klabin throughout the Puma II project, Valmet will deliver most of the equipment for Phase 1 of Puma II, including the PM 27 OptiConcept M kraftliner machine, the fibre line based on the new continuous cooking G3 system, and a pulp dryer rebuild. Valmet will also supply the DNA automation system and IQ quality management solution, as well as Valmet’s industrial internet (VII) solution, including data discovery and a wide range of predictive and advisory applications like dynamic centreline advisor, online quality predictor and paper machine diagnostics. A Valmet training simulator is also part of the delivery.
The combined benefits of world-class technology and low fibre, energy and water consumption producing a very uniform KLB grade are perfect for Klabin, said Francisco Razzolini, Klabin’s director for industrial technology, innovation, sustainability and projects. “The market is moving toward lower basis weights and more uniform products, with tight control on profiles and weights. The PM 27 design allows us to optimize all these factors,” he said.
João Antônio Gomes Braga, general manager of the Klabin Puma II project, said: “We had high-level technical discussions with Valmet about numerous machine design questions – about the starch applicator, for example, which is very important for improving the characteristics of hardwood KLB. The successful development to prove the machine’s feasibility was conducted by Klabin and Valmet through the joint effort of the process, research and development and equipment teams,”
The cooking plant features Valmet’s new continuous cooking G3 technology and includes ImpBin technology for steaming and impregnation of the wood chips. This two-vessel system provides excellent pulp quality with very low reject content.
The Puma II fibre line is the first reference for Valmet’s new cooking system, continuous cooking G3, which was launched in 2018. It is built on the strengths of the previous generation G2 but with special improvements for large-scale hardwood pulp production.
“In the new digester, we’re targeting higher kappa numbers, meaning a lower degree of cooking,” Razzolini said. “When Valmet presented the tight control solutions that can be integrated in the digester – chip feeding, the impregnation vessel and chip transfer from the ImpBin to digester – we realized it fully supported all our goals for unbleached high-kappa eucalyptus pulping.”
Klabin’s research and development manager Carlos Augusto Santos said: “Quality is made in the digester and then complemented in the rest of the process. I had the opportunity to work with the first-generation technology previously, and I’ve followed Valmet’s speedy evolution of G2 and G3, which is commendable. Valmet understood the customer needs and had the humility to add the necessary improvements in the cooking process in line with market demands.”
