Property and asset consultants at Lambert Smith Hampton (‘LSH’) have been appointed to carry out the private treaty sale of a combined heat and power (‘CHP’) scheme as part of the administration of Kent-based Aylesford Newsprint.

The recycled newsprint paper manufacturer was the longest established producer of 100% recycled newsprint and helped to save half a million tonnes of paper going to landfill each year. The company, which was founded in 1922, ceased to manufacture in February 2015 following the appointment of administrators Allan Graham and Rob Croxen from KPMG. LSH was subsequently appointed to undertake a sale of Aylesford Newsprint’s business assets, with a variety of online auctions and private treaty phases held in May, resulting in total realisations of £8.74 million.

LSH, in association with John Wilkie Paper Mill Services Ltd, has now been appointed to bring the CHP plant to market, with offers sought in the region of £2.5 million. The site comprises a water treatment plant, two CHP facilities, a steam turbine and a steam turbine generator. The CHP scheme at Aylesford Newsprint was run by mill employees on a day-to-day basis providing power to the newsprint, some external customers, and a small proportion to the national grid.  The plant was able to convert 16 tonnes per hour of process paper waste into steam used for both paper manufacture and power production, significantly reducing the level of emissions produced. Service history and viewings of the site are available upon request.

Commenting on the instruction, Mike Hanson, Director at LSH’s Machinery & Business Assets team, said:

“Despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the closure of Aylesford Newsprint we were able generate widespread bidder interest in the business’s assets at auction in May. We will now be undertaking a targeted campaign to ensure the successful sale of the associated CHP scheme and are anticipating significant interest from a range of prospective buyers.”

For further information on the sale, please contact Lambert Smith Hampton on 0115 950 1414 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

About Lambert Smith Hampton

Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) is a national commercial property consultancy. We work with investors, developers and occupiers across the public and private sectors, and we are single-mindedly focused on UK and Irish property markets.

For more information, and to see some of the companies we work with, please visit our websites at www.lsh.co.uk, www.lshauctions.co.uk and www.lshinvestmentsales.co.uk.

All paper mills need access to natural gas. If your mill is located in a very rural part of the country or is located on geographically challenging terrane, you might still be burning heavy fuel oils, coal or even tires.

You are responsible for the mill and the surrounding community. Your facility must remain competitive, comply with ever stricter EPA air emissions regulations, and do its part to meet corporate’s “green goals.” We talked to one potential customer who said that she could fine tune her boiler to pass a CO2 test or fine tune it to pass a NOx or particulate test…..but not all at the same time. This situation causes a great deal of pressure on your staff. It is sort of like the Volkswagen dilemma. It will eventually need to be fixed.

If your mill is not yet on a gas pipeline, you may think that your only “fix” is paying millions of dollars per mile for a pipeline extension. The money is one thing but the environmental requirements, environmental activists, delays, and bad press caused by right-a-way purchases or eminent domain threats are just as bad.

How do you find the particular solution for your mill?  There is a new option called the virtual pipeline. At least ten mills in the US are currently receiving trucked natural gas from a virtual pipeline.

A virtual pipeline is a fleet of tractor-trailers that delivers the same gas that traditionally comes from a pipeline. Virtual pipeline providers keep their trucks rolling so that the mill is provided with gas 24/7. The service does not require the mill to build storage as the gas is drawn out of the trailers directly into the power house at whatever temperature and pressure that is required. With between two and twenty 40 foot trailers unloading CNG all day long, the experience is like being on an old fashioned gas pipeline. Customers love it! Some find the added benefit of having the wood products that they also burn actually burn more efficiently with gas in the mix.

You do not need to convince corporate to fund a pipeline extension when no one knows how long your mill will be producing its current product lines or how long it will even stay operational. And your mill may do so well on natural gas that you will be a hero and get new equipment, put in a CHP system, or expand. A virtual pipeline can expand with you at no cost. The virtual pipeline service provider who had been delivering six loads a day for your process heat just brings ten loads a day after the expansion. No new capital requirement.

How exactly does this work? You work with your engineering team to convert the boilers, kilns, etc. to being dual-fuel. You can do it in stages if you like. The primary fuel source will be CNG and the backup may be fuel oil. The backup is needed when the virtual pipeline provider is curtailed at the transmission line, but the need for backup fuel would also exist if you were physically connected via a distribution line to the same transmission line that curtailed the virtual pipeline provider. Back up fuel is not bad, however, as it represents a good insurance policy in today’s erratic energy pricing world. Who knows when gas will be cheaper than fuel oil or vice versa? The service provider may occasionally have a problem with your delivery because of inclement weather or perhaps an automobile accident causing a delay. In this very infrequent scenario, the provider’s Operations Team will contact your operations people to discuss slowing down the mill, or switching briefly to your backup fuel. This does not happen often and in fact, it is usually the mill asking the virtual pipeline provider to slow down fuel deliveries due to equipment maintenance or malfunction.

While you are converting the equipment inside your mill, the virtual pipeline company is building a compressor station on the closest interstate transmission gas line, building decompression and heating equipment outside your power house, ordering new trailers, and hiring drivers. This all takes about twelve months. Most of the work outside your walls is paid for by the virtual pipeline company.

Besides the conversion, your expenses are opex expenses. You can purchase the commodity yourself or the virtual pipeline provider can purchase it for you. You pay them for transportation to your mill. The price is determined by many factors, but the most important factors are your distance from the proposed compression station, the length of contract with the virtual pipeline service provider, and the volume of gas purchased.

It is pretty simple. Connecting your facility to a natural gas virtual pipeline has many advantages. It is cheaper than paying for a pipeline extension, it requires much less maintenance than complex scrubbing equipment, and now that your facility is dual-fuel, it can act as a temporary solution while you wait for the pipeline, should it ever arrive.  Additionally, natural gas is a much safer and environmentally friendly fossil fuel, and it can satisfy ever more stringent clean air regulations. Using a clean fuel produced in North America has the positive effect of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and historically it has shown significant cost savings relative to other fossil fuels. Natural gas can now be the solution to a variety of problems facing mills that use dirty and expensive fuels.

Toscotec, the Lucca-based supplier of advanced solutions for the tissue and paper industry, has been awarded to provide a major rebuild to the WEPA PM#13 machine located in Cassino, Italy. This new project will complete the multiple steps of the plant upgrade assigned to Toscotec and started in 2010 with the rebuild of the original machine into crescent former and continued in 2013 with the installation of Toscotec-Milltech Yankee Hood complete with Heat Recovery system, and in summer 2015 with the optimization of the stock preparation lines including a Toscotec TT SAF^® concept delivery. 

The Cassino plant is located in the Centre of Italy, close to Rome; it is part of WEPA Group – an European leading company in tissue manufacture. The mill is an important and modern facility, which is completely integrated with a tissue machine, converting lines and automatic storage system. Its capacity is more than 60.000 t/year.  

The new rebuild is featuring a double layer fully hydraulic TT Headbox-MLT including polished pipes, a TT SYD-18FT with deckle insulation and the Yankee steam & condensate removal system.  

The supply will be provided on a turn-key basis including engineering, supervision and installation. The start up is scheduled on late summer this year. This investment will allow WEPA to have a state of the art machine with the best available technology. The mill will optimize the production cycle (enlarging also the trim width at the reel) and achieve a real improvement in paper quantity and quality, while decreasing energy consumption and therefore the environmental impact.

The new TT SYD will be the largest steel dryer ever installed in Europe on a tissue machine re-stating the leadership of Toscotec in this tissue machinery line segment.

The project has been assigned to Toscotec considering the good cooperation since several years, Toscotecs high level of professionalism and the excellent project handling during the construction and start-up of two new paper machines in the WEPA plants in Lille/ France and Giershagen/ Germany last year.  

About Toscotec
Toscotec is a turnkey supplier to the global tissue industry. Since 1948, Toscotec offers complete production lines, plant retrofits, turnkey projects, and individual machineries.  Headquartered in Lucca, the nerve center of the Italian paper district, with offices in China and North America, the Group serves all the leading paper producers with customized solutions, leveraging on the experience gained in more than 60 years of activities. Key to the Group’s success is the engineering and R&D department, run by a team of highly qualified engineers. Toscotec currently employs approx. 180 people.

The European Paper Sector Social Partners welcomed more than 60 participants from all across Europe for a conference in Vienna to discuss the preliminary research results on the education and training systems and typical curricula relevant for the paper sector in Europe. This extensive research will build the foundation for a gap analysis that will be the second step towards policy recommendations to policy makers, training providers and industry.

“It is high time for us to tackle the challenge of potential future skills mismatches in our sector” said Peter Schuld, Vice-Chairman of the Paper Sector Social Dialogue Committee“. The analysis from key experts demonstrates that we urgently have to adapt to the technological developments and prepare for the transformation within our sector by providing the relevant skills.”

The pulp and paper industry is a sustainable and innovative sector with great potential in Europe, if it continues to look into the future of the sector and the skills needed. At the same time, it is facing an image and perception challenge that deters youngsters to join the industry workforce.  This fundamental message was unanimously shared by the training and education experts as well as industry and trade union representatives at the mid-term conference of the European Paper Sector Social Partners’ project on the future skills and competences in their sector.

“Our sector is part of the bio-based industries and will remain competitive – a message that we have to broadly disseminate”, stated Bernard de Galembert, Chairman of the Paper Sector Social Dialogue Committee. “To overcome the lack of appeal, we need to develop identify targeted campaigns to address the general opinion and in particular youngsters and catch their interest for a highly innovative and sustainable sector.”

The project intends to deliver policy recommendations that will be available in November 2016.

For any further information, please contact:

industriAll Europe: Corinna Zierold This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel +32 (0) 2 226 00 55,

CEPI: Bernard de Galembert This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel +32 (0) 2 627 49 27

The EU paper sector social dialogue brings together the paper workers and employers from the EU member States, represented by IndustriAll European Trade Union and CEPI.

Robots and 3D images are some of the tools to be adopted in the forest industry’s most modern nursery

Fibria, a Brazilian forestry company and the world’s leading eucalyptus pulp producer, will build a new nursery at its Três LagoasUnit located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The nursery will feature last-generation technology from the Netherlands for automating the entire eucalyptus seedling production process, in an unprecedented initiative in the industry.

Fibria will be the first pulp company to use robots to plant eucalyptus seedlings. This is the first step of the process, which conventionally is performed manually. Automation helps to prevent losses and to protect the integrity of the seedlings. The new nursery also adopts concepts such as sustainability and reducing waste and environmental impacts by replacing the old plastic containers in seedling trays with more modern materials made from biodegradable paper. The new facilities will have approximately 48,000 m² of greenhouses and have fully automated transportation, handling, selection, irrigation, nutrition and climate‑control processes.

In the second step, when seedlings are selected to be moved to an area optimized for their development, the nursery's new machinery equipped with 3D vision will monitor the evolution of the seedlings and improve cultivation efficiency. The new system will generate statistics on the genetic material and development of each plant, which will assure Fibria greater quality control for the seedlings to be planted in the field.

"We will have a state-of-the-art nursery with extremely high precision in terms of systems and environmental control to ensure higher levels of performance in accordance with Fibria's seedling standards. Better seedlings are the foundation of a better forest," explained Aires Galhardo, Fibria's Chief Forestry Officer.

In addition to optimizing operations inside the nursery, the new technology’s use also brings improvements for workers. "The new method will provide ergonomic benefits for employees. Another new feature is the control of irrigation and climate via the use of automated panels. It’s technology improving the process and quality of life for employees," said Tomás Balistiero, Fibria's Forestry General Manager in Mato Grosso do Sul.

Construction on the new nursery is expected to begin in March 2016, and its startup is slated for March 2017, with annual production capacity of 43 million eucalyptus seedlings. The seedlings will be used for planting and forming the forests that will supply Fibria's Três Lagoas Unit and the Horizonte 2 Project, which is the company's second pulp production line in the city and is slated for startup in the last quarter of 2017.

Partnerships

Fibria's new nursery will be built through the Dutch consortium Hortikey, which develops large-scale automation projects for companies in the international market. The consortium is formed by leading industry companies, such as Agri-tech Aris, Berg Hortimotive, Bosman Van Zaal and Sistemas de Flier, as well as the Brazilian companies Methodo Ferramentaria, which will provide support on local standards, rules and regulations, and Açopema, which will supply the greenhouses.

Construction on the Horizonte 2 Project began in 2015 and is advancing on schedule. With an investment of R$8.7 billion (equivalent to around US$2.2 billion), Fibria's expansion project will create 40,000 jobs during construction and 3,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Três Lagoas Unit will have its annual pulp production capacity expanded by 1.75 million tons. With this expansion, Fibria’s Três Lagoas Unit will have total annual pulp production capacity of 3.05 million tons, making it one of the world’s largest pulp producers.

About Fibria

The world leader in eucalyptus pulp production, Fibria strives to meet the growing global demand for forestry products in a sustainable manner. With production capacity of 5.3 million tons of pulp per year, it has industrial units in Aracruz (Espírito Santo), Jacareí (São Paulo) and Três Lagoas (Mato Grosso do Sul), as well as in Eunápolis (Bahia), where it operates Veracel in a joint operation with Stora Enso. Fibria has 969,000 hectares of forests, with 568,000 hectares of planted forests, 338,000 hectares of environmental preservation and conservation areas and 63,000 hectares destined for other uses. The pulp manufactured by Fibria is exported to more than 40 countries. In May 2015, Fibria announced the expansion of its Três Lagoas unit, which will receive a new line with annual pulp production capacity of 1.75 million tons and is slated for startup in the fourth quarter of 2017. Further information: www.fibria.com.br/en/

Paper mills using recovered fiber as feedstock, reject the use of recovered paper sorted from “one-bin programs”

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has just released the preliminary results of a survey of paper mill buyers in North America who are responsible for sourcing recovered fiber for their paper mills, about their thoughts and experiences with materials from mixed waste processing centers. Mixed waste processing centers advise their residential customers that there is no need to separate recyclables from solid waste (including organics) prior to collection, claiming that the valuable recyclables will be successfully separated in a Material Recovery Facility (MRF)-like environment post-collection. While there have been other recent studies about mixed waste processing centers, this is the first known study that exclusively solicited views of recovered paper buyers regarding their opinions and views about the ability to successfully use the recyclables sorted from such “one-bin” programs.

New @ISRI survey reveals 75% paper mill buyers do not purchase recovered fiber from mixed waste processing centers.

“We gained an incredible amount of learning from the survey participants regarding their experiences and preferences concerning the procurement of recovered fiber for their paper mills,” said Robin Wiener, president of ISRI. “In 2014, ISRI issued a policy statement discouraging the use of one-bin collection systems due to anecdotal statements and strong feelings from our member companies regarding the degradation in quality of recyclables recovered from such systems, but it wasn’t until the completion of this survey that we finally gleaned hard data from paper mills about the poor quality and contamination that they are actually experiencing, and the resulting impact on their purchasing and sourcing decisions. It is clear from this study that in communities where mixed-waste processing systems are put in place, the recycling of paper is significantly diminished, both in quality and quantity.”

Some highlights of the survey’s initial results are as follows:

• 82% of respondents purchase recovered fiber for between 1 to 6 mills, and 49% of respondents purchase material in the range of more than 100,000 tons of recovered fiber per year, but less than 500,000 tons of recovered fiber per year.
• Of the respondents, 25% purchase “some” material from dirty MRFs, but these mills purchase less than 10% of their required tonnage from mixed waste processing centers.
• Of those that purchase recovered fiber from mixed waste processing centers, 70% find the quality to be WORSE than most other recovered paper, and 90% of those mill buyers have had to DOWNGRADE or REJECT the paper from the mixed waste processing centers, at a higher rate than recovered paper from “regular” MRFs.
• 62%, or nearly 2/3 of those surveyed feel that ISRI specs should contain a statement as part of the paper specifications that states: “paper recovered from one-bin programs, separated in mixed-waste processing centers, is not fit for use in USA paper mills.”
• Of the 75% of respondents who do not purchase recovered fiber from mixed waste processing centers, the top 8 reasons given, for NOT purchasing it, were as follows:

1.) Contamination;
2.) Odor;
3.) Low Quality;
4.) Exhibit a higher level of prohibitives and Outthrows versus what is acceptable;
5.) Internal quality standards prevent purchasing;
6.) Too risky;
7.) Excessive moisture; and
8.) Quality will not meet the mills’ customers’ needs.

The survey was conducted confidentially via an online survey to North American paper mill buyers between January 11 and January 31, 2016. An independent, third-party research firm was utilized to conduct the survey. In order to achieve a high response rate, the survey was limited to less than 10 critical questions. All major mill groups using recovered paper in North America were invited to participate in the survey, both members, as well as non-members of ISRI.

To receive a full copy of the research report which will be released within the next few weeks, please fill out this form.

About ISRI

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is the Voice of the Recycling Industry™. ISRI represents more than 1,600 companies in 21 chapters nationwide that process, broker and industrially consume scrap commodities, including metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics and textiles. With headquarters in Washington, DC, the Institute provides safety, education, advocacy, and compliance training, and promotes public awareness of the vital role recycling plays in the U.S. economy, global trade, the environment and sustainable development.

Valmet will supply a paper machine wet end rebuild to Khanna Paper Mills Private Limited located in Amritsar, India. The main targets of the rebuild are to improve end product quality, increase production and add paper grades by extending the basis weight range. The start-up of the rebuilt paper machine PM 5 is scheduled for the first quarter of 2017.

The order is included in Valmet's first quarter 2016 orders received. The value of the order is not disclosed. A project of this type and scope is typically valued at approximately EUR 5-7 million.

Signing ceremony in Finland on February 8th 2016. In front from left: Mikko Osara, Vice President, Paper Mills, Valmet and Varun Jain, CEO, Khanna Paper Mills. Behind from left: Kari Lamminmäki, Product Manager, Forming sections, Valmet, Nandkumar DM, General Manager, Sales & Technical Support, Valmet and Arun Sharma, Senior General Manager, Khanna Paper Mills.

Valmet's delivery includes rebuild of forming section into Valmet OptiFormer Hybrid as well as headbox measurement, inspection and service and press section runnability improvements.

"Khanna Paper Mills decided to invest in new, high technology regarding the upcoming rebuild of PM5. We selected Valmet as a supplier of the rebuild due to their ability to provide solutions that are flexible also for future needs. After the rebuild we will have flexibility to make also packaging grades according to future market demands," says Varun Jain, CEO of Khanna Paper.

"Valmet offers key technologies for challenging rebuilds. Forming technologies are good demonstrations of our core know-how. Modern forming technologies help our customers to achieve better formation, higher end product quality and significantly decrease energy consumption," says Petri Paukkunen, Vice President, Paper Mills Sales and Marketing, Valmet.

Technical details

Valmet OptiFormer Hybrid with shoe and blade technology uses a unique dewatering technology to boost the output quality and capacity of both new and rebuilt paper machine over a broad range of machine speeds and basis weights. It enables easy operation within a wide operating window, superior and controllable dewatering and improved paper quality, especially formation. It also delivers a potential for fiber cost savings.

The 7060-mm-wide (wire) PM 5 produces newsprint and uncoated woodfree (WFU) grades with the basis weight range of 45 - 80 g/m2. The design speed for the rebuilt machine parts is 1250 m/min.

See Varun Jain's, Khanna Paper CEO, interview about the rebuild investmant below

Information about the customer Khanna Paper Mills Private Limited

Khanna Paper Mills Private Limited (KPML) manufactures quality paper, newsprint and board for domestic consumption. It has been operating for a little over four decades. KPML produces annually around 380,000 tons of board, newsprint and writing & printing paper. KPML is among the top five paper companies in India and is also the first paper mill in India to produce high quality writing and printing paper from 100% deinked woodfree recovered paper.

Valmet is the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers.

Valmet's strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production. Our advanced services and automation solutions improve the reliability and performance of our customers' processes and enhance the effective utilization of raw materials and energy.

Valmet's net sales in 2015 were approximately EUR 2.9 billion. Our 12,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day. Valmet's head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.

Södra's operating profit for 2015 increased to SEK 2,162 million (1,516) and the Board proposes a profit distribution of SEK 1,002 million (553) to members. At the same time, Södra's investment programme will continue and an additional SEK 1 billion will be invested in the pulp mill at Mörrum.

"2015 was another good year for Södra and it is pleasing to report an historically strong result of SEK 2,162 million (1,516) and that the Board can therefore propose such substantial dividends. The forest economy was stable, our production volumes were high, exchange rates were favourable and our operations became more efficient. However, 2016 will prove a challenging year with the start-up of a virtually new pulp mill, the continuation of a change programme for sawn and planed timber, and a fragile global market," says Lars Idermark, President and CEO.

"We now have a leading and highly efficient mill operation that secures markets for our owners' forest raw material, as well as the Group's long-term potential to be successful in global competition. We will now invest an additional SEK 1 billion in our pulp mill at Mörrum to meet customer demands for high-grade pulp," says Lars Idermark.

Net sales for 2015 increased to SEK 18.3 billion (17.3), of which SEK 6.1 billion (5.9) was generated in the third four-month period. Operating profit in the third four-month period totalled SEK 502 million (504).

Due to this positive result, the Board proposes a profit distribution of SEK 1,002 million (553) to members, corresponding to 48 percent of profit before tax. The distribution comprises a dividend of 15 percent (6) on contributed capital, totalling SEK 439 million (170), a dividend of 10 percent (8) on wood deliveries, totalling SEK 436 million (323), and SEK 127 million (60) as a bonus issue. In addition to the above, a dividend of SEK 10 million (10) will be paid on subordinated debentures as contracted.

Södra already has an ongoing investment programme of about SEK 5 billion, most of which pertains to the expansion of the Värö pulp mill. The Board of Södra has now decided to invest a further SEK 1 billion in the mill at Mörrum. This investment will include a new evaporator and modernisation of the brown stock washing system in the dissolving pulp line, where pulp for the textile industry is produced. A new evaporator will make it possible to increase the production rate, as well as deliveries of energy products, such as electricity, district heating and biofuels. The new investment will increase production capacity by 45,000 tonnes, bringing the total production of paper and dissolving pulp at the Mörrum mill to 470,000 tonnes. Following the expansion, capacity at the Värö mill will amount to 700,000 tonnes. Capacity at Mönsterås will be 750,000 tonnes.

>> Video interview with Group President Lars Idermark

>> Read the full year-end report

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tcrngb/usa_bleached) has announced the addition of the "USA: Bleached Sulphate Pulp - Market Report - Analysis And Forecast To 2020" report to their offering.

“USA: Bleached Sulphate Pulp - Market Report - Analysis And Forecast To 2020”

The report provides an in-depth analysis of the Market of Bleached Sulphate Pulp in the USA. It presents the latest data of the market size, consumption, domestic production, exports and imports, price dynamics and trends in the industry. The report shows the sales data, allowing you to identify the key drivers and restraints. You can find here a strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market. Forecasts illustrate how the market will be transformed in the medium term.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

1.1 Report Description

1.2 Research Methodology

2. Executive Summary

2.1 Key Findings

2.2 Market Trends

3. Market Overview

3.1 Market Volume And Value

3.2 Per Capita Consumption

3.3 Market Forecast To 2020

4. Production In 2007-2014

5. Imports

5.1 Imports In 2007-2014

5.2 Imports By Countries

5.3 Import Prices By Countries

6. Exports

6.1 Exports In 2007-2014

6.2 Exports By Countries

6.3 Export Prices By Countries

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tcrngb/usa_bleached