Papelera Nacional refurbishes PM 2 in Ecuador
SAO PAULO, Jan. 29, 2008 (RISI) - Papelera Nacional, located in Guayaquil city, Ecuador, has hired Voith Paper to revamp its Panasa PM 2 (former Palm PM3) in order to increase its containerboard capacity from 200 tonnes/day to 300 tonnes/day.
Voith Paper supplied Panasa PM 2 to Papelera Nacional in 1994. Voith Paper Brasil will now raise the machine's speed from 230 m/min to 350 m/min at a basis weight production of 146 g/m2. The revamp will promote an improvement on paper quality and reduce PM's specific steam consumption indices.
Voith projects to install the new equipment on the machine in November 2008. According to the supplier, there will be a necessary ten day overhaul at the mill to complete the installation. "We plan to start up the machine in February 2009," Andres Jimenez, Papelera Nacional's commercial manager, indicated. Panasa PM 2 will be fed with 100% old corrugated containers (OCC). According to Jimenez, global containerboard growth demand in 2007 pushed company's sales up and also generated a positive effect to the Ecuadorian packaging market. "The demand of extensible sack kraft has been strongly increasing, especially in the cement and sugar sectors," he said.
Papelera Nacional produces 105,000 tonnes/yr of testliner, fluting and extensible sack kraft and also converts its papers into bags, tubes and pads for bananas. The company also plans to acquire PM 3. "But this project will take a longer time to be implemented," Jimenez said.
Fuente: RISI www.risiinfo.com