Oji Starts up First Tissue Machine at Nantong mill in China

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In China, Oji Holdings has started up a new 60,000-mtpy tissue machine at its pulp and paper complex in Nantong city, Jiangsu province. The first sheet rolled off the line in late June.

Provided by Andritz, the machine has a trim width of 5.6 m and a design speed of 2,000 m/min. It is the first TM to have come online at the site. An identical unit is being installed there and is scheduled to be fired up in September.

The pair will be partly integrated with a 700,000-mtpy on-site bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) pulp line.

All of their future output will be sold in jumbo rolls, as the mill is not equipped with any tissue product converting lines. Most of the jumbo rolls will be sold in China, with a small proportion shipped to Japan.

According to an environmental impact assessment (EIA) document that Oji published in 2018, it plans to build a total of 360,000 mtpy of tissue capacity at the Nantong mill.

A timeline for the rest of the expansion scheme has not been unveiled.

The startup of the first tissue machine at the Nantong mill marks the Japanese paper giant’s re-entry into the tissue paper production sector in China. Oji used to operate a 20,000-mtpy tissue mill in Suzhou city, also in Jiangsu province, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Oji Paper Nepia (Suzhou). The plant permanently shut down in 2016 as its outdated, small machines were uncompetitive.

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