Upgrading Soustre coreboard mill: Rebuild and capacity increase of pulp preparation line
This large-scale project was carried out internally by our team of engineers and was led by David Fontanel, our Project Manager. The project consisted of moving all the equipment involved in the screening of pulp, from cyclonic cleaning to screening of the thick pulp.
A new 200 m3 tank was transported in one piece by an exceptional convoy and installed to enable us to increase the pulp capacity. Furthermore, also the screens have been doubled to increase the capacity of the pulp line, as part of a sizeable capacity increase plan that has been underway for several years.
The completely refurbished, simplified and redesigned networks are a guarantee of improved reliability in the pulp line. A significant part of the work was installing about a kilometre of new pipes.
All control and power supplies have been replaced, and our Valmet DCS (Distributed Control System) was prolonged all the way until the pulp line. This provides a higher level of both quantitative and qualitative performance control over the production process. We have also introduced new lifting equipment allowing us to operate safely in maintenance works, which – thanks to the doubling of equipment – can take place without causing production interruptions.
The transition from the old to the new pulp preparation line was well planned throughout 2019 and smoothly completed during the annual shutdown in December. The old building will be demolished in 2020 and will give way to new infrastructures allowing us to think bigger for our mill, whose development and growth remains our priority.
Posted on Thursday 23 January 2020
