Södra has appointed Valmet of Finland as its main supplier for process equipment for the expansion of the pulp mill in Värö, near Varberg. This order is part of Södra's investment totalling more than SEK 4 billion.
The order placed with Valmet includes a new continuous digester and upgrades to wood handling, the fibre line, evaporation plant, soda recovery boiler, causticisation, flashdryer, drying machine and baling.
A large portion of the order will be supplied by Valmet in Sweden: The digester and causticisation will be supplied by Karlstad, the fibre line, flashdryer and baling by Sundsvall, and evaporation and the soda recovery boiler by Gothenburg. The wood handling and pulp dryer will be supplied by Finland. Valmet states that the order from Södra is worth around SEK 2 billion.
"We have good experiences of Valmet and feel confident that this project will be a success. We have worked closely together with Valmet in planning the project and it gives us a good start. This investment increases our pulp production, makes the mill more energy efficient and increases its bioenergy supply potential", says Gunilla Saltin, President, Södra Cell.
"We are very pleased that Södra Cell trusted us with this significant order. It is a strong token of our technological leadership and competitiveness in the pulp technology market. Investments in pulp production are active at the moment and Valmet is strongly involved with many major on-going projects", says Jyrki Holmala, President, Pulp and Energy Business Line, Valmet.
Södra has previously purchased groundwork, building work and construction work from NCC with regard to the expansion of Värö. Another major supplier is Raumaster, which will be supplying storage and transport equipment for chips and bark.
When the expansion work is complete, Värö will be one of the biggest pine sulphate pulp mills in the world, with a total production capacity of 700,000 tonnes of pulp per year. These investments will also considerably increase Värö's energy efficiency.
Valmet Corporation is a global developer and supplier of services and technology for the pulp, paper and energy industry. Valmet has revenues of around EUR 2.6 billion (2013) and employs 11,000 staff, and its head office is based in Espoo, Finland.