Eren Paper Plans Conversion of Shotton Newsprint; Includes Tissue Production Center

According to Fastmarkets RISI, Eren Paper (Eren), a subsidiary of Turkey’s Modern Karton, has ambitious plans to convert the newsprint machine at the Shotton mill, which it is set to acquire from UPM, to a 650,000 tonne/yr recycled containerboard (RCCM) PM and transform the site into the “largest and most technologically advanced” mill in the UK. The plans also call for new tissue lines at the site with a total capacity of 210,000 metric tpy as well as a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

In anticipation of a detailed planning application later this year, SLR Consulting (SLR), on behalf of Eren, submitted this month a request for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping opinion to the Flintshire County Council and Planning Inspectorate Wales. The document details Eren’s plan to create the “second largest containerboard campus in the UK.” In order to do so, Eren would redefine the existing operational site, as well as develop some adjacent expansion land and a combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The proposed redevelopment of the mill would see “three separate parts that are physically and functionally distinct, but have a number of shared facilities and will operate under the same management regime,” the report said.

The main area will also see the construction of an effluent treatment facility comprising anaerobic digestion, as well as additional buildings for warehouses, dispatch, chemicals, truck loading building, conversion, administration and reel storage. Existing buildings including the materials recycling facility and a biomass plant would be retained.

The second part of the project would comprise the building of a 210,000 tonne/yr tissue production facility. Three new tissue machines would be built with a production capacity of 70,000 metric tpy each, as well as a converting unit to transform the jumbo rolls into finished products. The expanded site would also see the construction of a finished goods warehouse as well as other buildings for reel storage, converting, pulp storage and truck loading. The proposed area would be approximately 85,000 m².
The third phase includes the construction of a 50 MWe CHP plant, which would be built next to the existing biomass unit and provide additional power to the mill. “The proposed CHP plant is intended to achieve 80 percent efficiency which can reduce [the site’s] carbon emissions by up to 30 percent,” the scoping request said. The CHP area would be approximately 5,000 m².

The project would enable Eren to hire a total of 853 people on site.

In May, UPM announced it will sell the Shotton mill to Eren Paper, with a project to convert it to RCCM production. Newsprint production at the site, which has a capacity of 260,000 metric tpy on one paper machine, will stop on September 30 and Eren will take over the mill on October 1.

The detailed planning application is expected to be submitted for approval in December. The exact timing for the entire project remains unclear.

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