Kemira Adds Capacity in Asia-Pacific to Support the Growing Paper and Board Industry
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Kemira adds capacity in Asia-Pacific and announces the start-up of a new dry polymer production plant in Ulsan, South Korea and the initiation of planning for increased production capacity of sizing agents in Nanjing, China. These investments are part of Kemira’s growth strategy implementation and underline Kemira’s strong commitment to the paper and board customer base and support Kemira’s water treatment growth initiatives in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
Kemira has opened a new dry polymer production plant in Ulsan, South Korea in May 2021. The plant produces high quality dry polyacrylamide (DPAM) products primarily for retention and drainage applications which are critical in modern, fast paper and board production.
The paper and board industry is seeing the fastest growth in the APAC region, particularly for consumer-driven packaging and board grades, and currently, most of the new production on the global market in all paper grades is being built in China and the APAC region. The new dedicated capacity strengthens Kemira’s local and global supply network of high-quality dry polymers and supports the growing Asia-Pacific markets for both Kemira’s business segments, Pulp & Paper and Industry & Water.
“Building on our decades of experience, the state-of-the-art production technology at Ulsan ensures high, consistent product quality and performance. The manufacturing capabilities are supported by full backward integration to key raw materials, ensuring cost-effective production. The project has been executed smoothly in schedule in the challenging operating circumstances, with excellent site safety performance and in good cooperation with our partner,” states Maria Sederholm, Director, Global Product Lines, Polymers at Kemira.
Kemira has also initiated a pre-engineering phase to construct a multimillion investment to increase the production capacity of ASA sizing agents at its Nanjing site in Jiangsu province in China. ASA (alkenyl succinic anhydride) sizing agents are used for improving water resistance in paper and board, including packaging solutions. Currently, Kemira is the leading producer and supplier of sizing agents in the APAC market and Nanjing is the world’s largest ASA production site. Kemira’s production in Nanjing has been expanding since the start in 2014.
“The investment to a third production line in the modern and highly automated Nanjing site will further strengthen our leading position and enable us to even better supply the increasing demand for high quality sizing products. ASA is the most effective and cost-efficient sizing agent for packaging and board grades. Investment project will take approximately 2 years after pre-engineering phase is completed,” states Alexander Wahl, Director, Global Product Line, Sizing at Kemira.
