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“I’m always ready for one more interesting challenge.”
Hanspeter Elger, SEHT’s Area Project Manager for Raw Material Preparation.
You hear people talking about global cooperation and global efficiency – but when you actually witness it in person, the words take on new meaning. Such is the case with a unique joint venture involving Stora Enso of Finland and Shandong Huatai Paper of China which built the first professional SC paper production line in China. How the two companies got together is an interesting story.
Combining strengthsStora Enso wanted to reuse the old PM 6 from its Maxau mill, Germany, in an emerging market and talked with several prospective buyers. When talking with Shandong Huatai Paper about buying PM 6, the discussion turned to doing something more – combining Stora Enso’s expertise in producing SC papers with Huatai’s infrastructure (people, power, water, waste treatment, transportation, and sales network).
Shandong Huatai Paper is well known in the Asian region, and is a powerhouse in China. Part of the Huatai Group (third largest enterprise group in China), it produces one third of the newsprint in China (1.2 million tonnes per year). It has an extensive sales and technical support network established in China.
Satisfying a market needThe market need was uncovered when Stora Enso worked with Shandong Huatai in late 2004 to do a pre-feasibility study for building a publication paper production facility in China. Arne Sundkvist, the DIP Process Manager from Stora Enso’s Hylte mill in Sweden who had technological responsibility for this global project, was part of that joint team.
“Our thinking was to offer Chinese advertisers, cataloguers, and magazine publishers an alternative to LWC grades,” Sundkvist says.
The recommendation from the pre-feasibility study was to form a joint venture and to relocate the machine from Maxau to China to keep investment costs at a reasonable level. Stora Enso Huatai (Shandong) Paper – known as SEHT – was formed in April 2006.
From Germany to ChinaCarsten Wenk was the Operational Director for SEHT. He explained that Stora Enso replaced its PM 6 machine at Maxau with a new 7.2 m trim SC machine. The year was 2004.
In July, PM 6 was stopped. It was dismantled in just six days and then carefully packed into 140 shipping containers. “It was just 75 days from the shutdown of the old PM 6 to having paper on the reel of the new machine,” says Wenk. Wenk was involved in many projects at the mill – the rebuild of PM 8, the upgrade of the groundwood line, the installation of the new Andritz bleach plant, and the installation of the new PM 6. He was Production Superintendent on the new machine. With the birth of the SEHT joint venture, PM 6 had a new home. “I guess you could say that I relocated with the machine,” Wenk says.
One more interesting projectThe chosen site for SEHT’s new SC line was Huatai’s large industrial complex near Dongying (called the Dawang mill). Surrounding the new SC production line is the world’s largest newsprint production base (Shandong Huatai Paper), with power plant, wastewater treatment, warehouses, and transportation depot already in place.
The Huatai infrastructure allowed the SEHT team to focus on an efficient installation and start-up, according to Hanspeter Elger, the Area Project Manager for Raw Material Preparation (recycled fiber processing and deinking).
“I have worked with paper grades from tissue to board,” Elger says. “This gives me a generalist view of our industry, and has been very helpful for this project at the Dawang mill, since each of us has to wear several hats.”
Interestingly, Elger was only two months away from retirement when the management of Stora Enso asked if he would be willing to manage the DIP project at SEHT. “Why not?” Elger agreed. “I’m always ready for one more interesting challenge.”
The DIP projectThe capital investment for the new production line was approved by the board of directors in August 2006 and the project took off on an extremely fast-track. In fact, in anticipation of a “green light” from the board, Andritz and other suppliers were first invited for discussions in June of that year.
“We divided the process into three key areas: drum pulper with feed, the main DIP process, and sludge handling,” says Sundkvist. “We targeted to have one supplier, if possible. If you have one supplier, you never have to question about who is responsible for the process success.”
All the work was completed on a fast-track basis – just 15 months from board approval (August 2006). “We were under immense pressure since this project was planned to be built in the shortest time within Stora Enso,” says Hermann Mahlert, head of the corporate project team. “Our marketing people wanted to get paper off the machine before the end of 2007 due to the upcoming Olympic games.”
Elger’s counterpart on the project from Andritz was Hubert Leitner, Project Manager. Working out of Graz, Austria, Leitner coordinated the work of his team, which included members from Finland, Austria, and Andritz Technologies Ltd. in Foshan, China.
“Because of the tight schedule, we took full responsibility for the basic engineering, while the detailed engineering was done by a Chinese design company,” Leitner says. “We actually started the basic engineering work on a handshake and attended a large project kickoff meeting in Düsseldorf in mid-August 2006 before the official board approval at the end of the month.”
“We saved time and money on the project because we didn’t have to engage a separate engineering consultant in Europe for the DIP plant,” Sundkvist says. “Andritz did the work as required.”
The total scope of Andritz’s supply was all the equipment for the recycled fiber production line, including paper feeding and sorting, the FibreFlow® drum pulper, cleaning, screening, flotation, thickening, dispersing, bleaching, sludge handling, and internal water treatment. In addition, Andritz delivered the technology for the approach flow and water systems, including all screens, cleaners, disc filters, and the MultiRetention Deculator® system.
“We were very familiar with Andritz’s technology from installations in other Stora Enso mills,” Elger says. “They have all the elements from technology, to project execution, to service support in place. It was a solid decision as they are a proven partner.”
Engineering was completed in March 2007 and equipment erection began in June. By a stroke of good luck, the large FibreFlow® drum (3.5 m diameter by 25 m long, supplied and installed in one piece) was delivered one month ahead of schedule.
The DIP plant started up in the middle of November and by the end of the month, the first paper came off the reel. “To be honest, at the very beginning I was not convinced we could make it,” Mahlert says. “But everybody on the project team did their utmost in the last weeks and days. This has been a great experience to work with this multi-cultural team.”
“The start-up was quite good,” Wenk says. “Andritz did a good project for us, as usual. What I like about working with Andritz is that whenever we encounter a problem, the discussion is about how to find a good solution – not about fixing blame.”
Pushing it further“In just the first four months of operation, our machine efficiency increased close to world class level,” says Wenk. “So, we can say that the start-up of this whole line has been remarkable. We had the advantage of getting some very experienced papermakers from Huatai.”
One of those experienced papermakers is Liu Shuliang, who is now Production Manager at SEHT. Liu came to the project in August 2007 while PM 6 was being commissioned. He brought with him a team of about 100 people from Shandong Huatai Paper to operate the DIP plant, paper machine, and finishing operations.
“The DIP plant is running exceptionally well,” says Liu. “We’re very happy with the quality of the deinked pulp and we are averaging about 400 tonnes of production per day.” Liu is also impressed with the level of automation in the plant. Only one operator per shift is required. “The systems run reliably and are easy to control,” he says.
Sundkvist concurs. “The deinking line is stable and reliable,” he says. “We do not have unforeseen stops in production. If I summarize it, I would say that Andritz has done a good job and we are where we planned to be at this stage in the ramp-up.”
Furnish for the SC paper is a 50/50 blend of old magazines (OMG) and old newspapers (ONP). “Brown fiber in the ONP is our biggest problem,” Elger says. “We employ a small crew one shift a day to manually sort it out. There is also about 7% incoming dirt with the furnish, which is well handled by the Andritz systems.”
Franziska Schütt, from Stora Enso’s Sachsen mill in Germany was part of the start-up team. This was a new experience for her, being her first start-up. “I have been very impressed with the Andritz start-up team,” she says. “They have the knowledge and they know exactly where to check if there is a problem. I have learned a lot in my six months here.”
Establishing a market reputation – one roll at a timeIn the Chinese market, Stora Enso registered its EnviPress™ brand with a Chinese name, Yue Yin Cim™. It is produced in a range from 45 to 64 g/m2. Shang Xiangyang, Sales Administration Manager for SEHT, says that printers are adjusting to SC paper and that the first trials have been very promising. He shows as an example a recent advertising flyer test printed for the IKEA company in China.
“As China increases its paper consumption, it will need more specific paper grades,” Shang says. SC paper is an uncoated grade that combines printability and runability with a lower cost structure than LWC grades. It contains a significant amount of fillers (minerals and chemicals) to give it the brightness and opacity that advertisers, cataloguers, and magazine publishers love.
“By starting up the first large SC production line in China – especially with 100% recycle and its environmental benefits – we are boosting development in the Chinese paper industry,” Shang says. “This is a challenge for all of us. We have a new company, a new product, a new market, and new people in our team. We are all growing together.”
