MINAS GERAIS - LD Celulose S.A, a joint venture between Lenzing and the Brazilian company Dexco, have announced that its production at its 500,000 tonne/year dissolving wood pulp mill in the Triângulo Mineiro region of Brazil has now started.
“Our new mill brings a positive socioeconomic impact throughout the region," said Luís Künzel, CEO of LD Celulose. "The dissolving pulp is a key raw material for manufacturing Lenzing’s wood-based textile and specialty fibres. This mill is among the most productive and energy-efficient mills in the world. We have adopted the most advanced technologies in the mill, not only in the sustainable production process, but also in the solutions that seek to reduce emissions to the environment. We are very happy that despite the outside challenges we have been able to follow our schedule.”
The key pulp mill technology and automation systems at the US$1.3 billion project were installed by Valmet. The complete delivery included a fibre line, a pulp drying and baling line, an evaporation plant, ash crystallization, a white liquor plant, mill-wide automation system, analyzers and training simulators for all process areas.
The fibre line features Valmet TwinRoll technology for high washing efficiency with low chemical and water consumption. The pulp drying and baling line is designed to handle the special requirements of dissolving pulp in an energy efficient way and ensures high-quality pulp and easy operation with the support of the Valmet Quality Control System.
The evaporation plant features Valmet Tubel technology for high availability and produces clean condensate quality for 100% reuse in the mill. The white liquor plant includes recausticizing and lime kiln and is designed for high reliability and less maintenance. The Valmet Ash Crystallizer has a capacity of 300 tons of ash per day and will recover mill chemicals and remove non-process elements, primarily chloride and potassium, from the mill’s liquor cycle.
Valmet Operator Training Simulator (OTS) will be used in all process islands, from the beginning to the end of production, with a total of 14 process areas. An innovative fact of the project is that its wood handling area is the first in Brazil to use OTS technology. Another highlight is the presence of simulators for the areas of water treatment, water treatment for boilers, effluent treatment and turbines, commonly little explored in the OTS. This demonstrates the commitment of LD Celulose to implement for more efficient, optimized processes focused on the safety and excellence of its operational team.
“This project is an excellent reference of dissolving pulp technology and our green field pulp mill delivery capability," added Bertel Karlstedt, Business Line President, Pulp and Energy, Valmet. "Almost everything in this project was implemented during the global Covid-19 pandemic. We have been working remotely in engineering, project management and even in factory acceptance test for the automation system."
