Valmet, Finland, will supply an off-machine coater rebuild for Hansol Paper Co., at its Shintanjin site in South Korea. The target of the rebuild is to convert the paper mill for thermal paper production, and to increase production and market share of high quality thermal grades. 

Today, the off-machine coater is producing coated wood-free paper grades. The mill will gradually decrease the portion of printing papers and other low-profit products. Startup of the rebuilt machine is scheduled for 2018. 

The value of the order will not be disclosed. However, according to Valmet, the value of an order of this type is typically EUR 10-20 million.

 

 

"The making of thermal paper is quite challenging. Thermal coating color is very expensive and requires very sensitive drying. Valmet has a long history of providing successful thermal coating machines; our technology and process knowhow is on a very good level. The references and the knowhow about thermal process convinced Hansol Paper to choose Valmet," said Valmet Senior Sales Manager Pekka Jernberg.

Valmet's delivery for the off-machine coater will include a new OptiCoat Layer curtain coating station, which gives a very good coverage even with thin layers, thus the amount of expensive thermal coating color can be kept low. The delivery also includes two calenders, a reel, and coating air dryers. The capacity and the temperatures of the air dryers have been carefully calculated and optimized for high quality thermal paper. The delivery will also include a supply system for the curtain coater unit. 

The 5,300 mm wide (reel) off machine coater will produce fine paper and thermal grades. The design speed for the new parts is 1,500 m/min. After the rebuild, the thermal paper production capacity of Hansol Paper will be approximately 320,000 metric tpy. 

Founded in 1971, Hansol Paper is a part of Hansol Group and it is the largest Korean papermaker. It produces a variety of products including printing and writing paper, carton board, fine paper, thermal paper, and other specialty papers at its Janghang, Daejeon, Cheonan, and Shintanjin mills. Hansol Paper announced its merger with Hansol Artone Paper at the beginning of 2017. The company is aiming for global markets.