Tissue World Magazine
Alexandra Stuthridge, Technical Business Manager, BioProducts Institute (BPI)

Södra has started the expansion of its Värö pulp mill, an initiative in which the pulp producer has invested more than four billion Swedish kronor.

The Land and Environment Court has now given Södra permission to begin the actual construction work and the expanded mill is scheduled to start up in the autumn of 2016.

This expansion involves increasing the current production capacity of 425,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes of pulp per year.

This will make the mill one of the biggest in the world in terms of softwood sulphate pulp production.

CEO Lars Idermark said: “The paper pulp market is growing globally and now it will be possible for us to continue to grow together with our customers.
“The expansion at Södra Cell Värö is a measure which will reinforce our market position.

“We already supply high-quality pulp to a number of different customer segments, and we can now develop and underpin this.”

Valmet will be supplying a new continuous digester and upgrades to wood handling, the fibre line, evaporation plant, soda recovery boiler, causticisation, flashdryer, drying machine and baling.