Metsä Fibre’s new bioproduct mill
October 2023
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Metsä Fibre’s Kemi bioproduct mill in Finland was recently successfully commissioned. The material, environmental and energy efficient mill will not use any fossil fuels, and it will produce two terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable electricity per year. Valmet’s technology and automation contributed to the sustainable operation and high-quality end product.
The new mill is located on the same site as an old pulp mill, which was decommissioned. After startup, the production process will be fine-tuned for full-scale production, which will be achieved within a year from startup. Valmet’s delivery covers the full production process from wood handling to baling, flow control solutions and mill-wide automation systems. Annual pulp production capacity will be 1,5 million tons, and in addition, the mill will produce various other bioproducts.
“The startup of the mill is an important milestone for us. I am looking forward to seeing how the most significant investment in the history of the Finnish forest industry will achieve its full production capacity,” says Jari-Pekka Johansson, director of the bioproduct mill project at Metsä Fibre.
“By combining Valmet’s innovative process technology, automation and services we have delivered a solution with world-class sustainability and minimised emissions. For example, energy efficiency has been improved by steam integration between the evaporation and digester, and with new pulp drying features. The advanced mill-wide automation system and integrated industrial internet applications help to optimise the mill’s production efficiency,” says Sami Riekkola, pulp and energy business line president at Valmet.
The mill features leading process technology and the most advanced automation systems. Valmet’s delivery includes the wood handling; cooking and fibre line; pulp drying and baling; evaporation; recovery boiler; recausticising; lime kiln; biomass dryer and gasifier; ash crystallisation; mill-wide non-condensable gases handling solution; and dry and wet electrostatic precipitators for the recovery boiler and lime kiln. Valmet also delivered the sulphuric acid plant, which uses the mill’s own odorous gases to produce sulphuric acid. In addition, Valmet delivered a rebuild of the existing fibre line, including new chip feeding and washing systems.
Valmet’s automation delivery includes a mill-wide Valmet DNA automation system, plant information management system, Valmet IQ Quality Management System, advanced process controls, analysers and a measurement package. The industrial internet solutions embedded in the delivery include analytics tools, monitoring and optimisation applications, simulators for selected process and Valmet Performance Centre connectivity. With this mill-wide automation system, the mill can run in a balanced way, control the process and ensure it runs flawlessly with high quality, cost-effectiveness and environmental efficiency.
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