Konecranes to Deliver Two Industrial Cranes for Brazilian Pulp Producer

Celulose Riograndense utilizes cranes to load pulp bale units to ships at the factory landing. The new Konecranes cranes will replace existing cranes to help improve performance and reliability of the loading process. The two cranes will be designed for the load of 2 million metric tons of pulp per year.

"CMPC is looking for partners who can offer cutting-edge solutions in their strategic activities. Currently, we have 90 % of pulp production through cranes. When we choose Konecranes, we choose the safety, quality, and reliability of a world leader in the field," said Roberto Hallal, logistic manager at Cellulose Riograndense.

The order consists of two tailor-made cranes with specially designed, adjustable spreader-clamps and specific Smart Features, including Target Positioning. The cranes are operated with cameras and sensors from a movable cabin, which help to enhance operational safety. The cranes can handle loads of up to 16 tons.

"These cranes will help to improve safety and efficiency of the customer’s pulp bale loading process. Several semi-automation features will assist the crane operator in moving pulp fast and accurately. Crane features were selected after we had studied the customer’s loading process carefully. Once again, understanding the customer’s process was the key factor when selecting the right solution," said Arto Hujanen, Director, Paper & Forest Industry at Konecranes.

Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports, and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment of all makes. In 2017, Group sales totaled EUR 3,136 million. The group has 16,200 employees at 600 locations in 50 countries.

Sappi announced this week further progress in the development of its biorefinery capacity with the confirmation that it will construct a demonstration plant to further scale up its novel Xylex® technology for the production of Xylitol and Furfural. The plant will be located adjacent to the existing sugars and lignin extraction plant at Ngodwana Mill (South Africa). It should be operational early in 2019. Pending successful results and further approvals, it is anticipated that Sappi may construct commercial Xylitol and Furfural plants adjacent to its mills in the U.S. and South Africa.

Commenting on the decision, Sappi CEO Steve Binnie said that "we are very happy with the progress being made by our biorefinery team, as well as with the value we are deriving from the acquisition and integration last year of the key biorefinery technologies and expert staff from Plaxica. Biomaterials and biochemicals are integral to Sappi’s strategy of extracting maximum value from wood fiber, our natural and renewable resource. We have taken a significant step towards generating meaningful revenue from this new business segment."

Louis Kruyshaar, EVP for Sappi Biotech, explained that "Sappi’s biorefinery plans are focused on building a sustainable, profitable business from the manufacture and sale of food ingredients, materials, and chemical intermediates derived from the C5 sugars produced as a co-product of the mill’s dissolving wood pulp production, and from the lignin produced in the company’s global pulp production."

The combination of Sappi’s operational excellence, the proposed co-location of the commercial plants at existing mill sites delivers strong integration synergies, and the cost advantages offered by Sappi’s scale and the Xylex® technology mean that Sappi will have a globally competitive cost base for sugars and xylitol and furfural production.

Turning to the products which the demonstration plant will provide a platform for, Kruyshaar said that "Xylitol is a high value sweetener with exciting growth prospects - it is a low-calorie sweetener which has positive dental properties and produces no insulin response, so is suitable for diabetics. Furfural is a versatile green industrial chemical derived from C5 sugars with a diverse range of derivatives."

In 2016 Sappi announced it would invest in demonstration capacity at its Ngodwana Mill in South Africa to extract hemicellulose sugars and lignin from its dissolving wood pulp (DWP) line for eventual beneficiation to higher value products
In 2017 this plant, built in partnership with Valmet, was commissioned. After operating for 12 months to demonstrate the extraction of C5 sugars from DWP production, the plant has exceeded all efficiency targets for cost, cycle time, and yield.
Later in 2017 Sappi acquired the patented Xylex technology for the hydrolysis and clean-up of these C5 sugars, as well as to produce a valuable lignin stream.
In April 2018, Sappi sanctioned a scale-up demonstration plant for the Xylex technology to be located alongside the existing sugars plant at Ngodwana Mill. The plant will be commissioned in the first calendar quarter of 2019.
This plant will enable the demonstration of technologies for the production of Xylitol and Furfural.
Following successful commissioning of the Xylitol process, Sappi’s strategic intent is to enter the Xylitol value chain with a world-scale production plant.
As regards Furfural, sugars extraction from the company’s DWP assets combined with its Xylex and Furfural capabilities will allow Sappi to pursue various partnerships in the furan chemical value chain. The furan markets are showing strong market pull for new investments due to growth as well as replacing older and smaller unsustainable assets.

A global leader in dissolving wood pulp and paper-based solutions, Sappi Limited (listed and in the Top 40 on the JSE - SAP), is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa; has more than 12,000 employees; operates manufacturing facilities on three continents, in seven countries (eight operations in Europe, three operations in America, and five operations in South Africa) and customers in 150-plus countries worldwide

Sappi works closely with customers to provide relevant and sustainable dissolving wood pulp, paper (specialty, packaging, and graphic), paper pulp, and biomaterial products and related services and innovations. Its market-leading range of paper products includes flexible packaging, label, release liner, containerboard and fluting, coated fine papers, casting release papers, and in its Southern African region newsprint, uncoated graphic, and business papers. These products serve the fashion, FMCG, and industrial sectors. Sappi’s dissolving wood pulp products are used worldwide by converters to produce viscose fiber, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of household and consumer products.

Sappi drives product innovation and the development of new uses for its renewable resource (wood fiber) as well as for the biomass and other residues from its production processes. One such area is in the field of biomaterials (nanocellulose and lignins), biochemicals including hemi-cellulose sugars and bio-energy forest products materials which Sappi believes will play a key role in its future range of products, both as commercial products and for applications within Sappi.