Paper machine catches fire at Vancouver Island mill (saanichnews.com)

KP Tissue Inc. and Kruger Products L.P. announced KPLP’s plan to add to the capacity of its Sherbrooke expansion project by constructing a double width Light Dry Crepe (LDC) tissue machine with a capacity of at least 60,000 MT instead of the previously announced 30,000 MT LDC tissue machine. This additional capacity will allow us to accelerate the growth of our business and continue to provide our customers across North America with high quality tissue products like Cashmere®, SpongeTowels®, Scotties® and Purex® in Canada and White Cloud® in the U.S., said Dino Bianco, CEO with KPLP.

Pixelle Specialty Solutions LLC has announced the mill located in Jay, ME will close in the first quarter of 2023. The mill employs approximately 230 people who will be affected by the closure. The mill produces specialty label and release papers, as well as industrial and packaging solutions for eCommerce and food service. Its two paper machines have a capacity of 230,000 tons annually. The mill has endured significant business and financial challenges that were compounded by the April 2020 rupture of one of its pulp digesters and catastrophic damage impacting the continued operability of the entire pulp mill. No one was injured in the event, and the mill subsequently transitioned into higher margin specialty products and invested capital to increase operational efficiencies while operating on purchased pulp. The company intends to work with its customers where possible to transition their products to other Pixelle mills or to plan for volumes of orders in the limited production leading up to mill closure.

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Sun Paper to supply pulp dewatering and white liquor plant technologies and key process equipment for their new pulp mill in Beihai, China. Start-up is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021. The scope of supply on EPS basis includes the following equipment: Wet lap system with two production lines for a capacity of 1,120 admt/d bleached hardwood kraft pulp, each consisting of a Twin Wire Press for pulp dewatering, a cutter-layboy and a baling line. Evaporation plant with a high-concentration section for a total evaporation capacity of 1,100 t/h and a final dry solids content of 85%. Ash re-crystallization (ARC) system, with an ash handling capacity of 400 t/d, to treat the ash from the electrostatic precipitator by decreasing the chloride and potassium content while recovering sodium and sulfate.