Liansheng Pulp & Paper (Zhangzhou), located on the southeast coast of China in Fujian province, established a pulp mill to ensure full integration with its new paper, cartonboard, and tissue production facilities.
Liansheng Pulp & Paper (Zhangzhou), located on the southeast coast of China in Fujian
Family-owned enterprise Liansheng Pulp & Paper has rapidly emerged as one of China’s most dynamic operators in the pulp, paper, and tissue sector. The company entered the pulp and paper industry in 1998, and has grown to be a significant producer of board, paper, and household products, with an emphasis on large-scale integrated pulp and paper operations and a focus on environmentally friendly production.
Liansheng site personnel celebrating the start-up of the first 360° Stacker Reclaimer
In 2021, Liansheng Pulp & Paper decided that a wise commercial decision would be to set up an integrated mill, including a kraft pulp facility, at a new 300-hectare site in Zhangzhou, which would supply pulp to its newly set-up packaging and tissue operations. Thomas Schmitz, President of ANDRITZ China, says, “This mill is very special in lots of ways. The owners are extremely ambitious, and the site has grown very quickly to produce coated ivory board, printing and writing paper, and has launched into tissue with two ANDRITZ PrimeLine machines.
“The decision to set up a kraft mill as the center of this integrated mill made perfect sense. The mill is close to the sea for the import of chips, and also close to plantation areas for the supply of eucalyptus and acacia logs – China holds the largest plantation areas outside of Brazil, so fiber challenges are not an issue here.”
Liansheng Pulp & Paper proved its ambitions for the future by deciding on building the largest kraft mill in China. ANDRITZ was chosen to supply equipment for all the main process islands with an impressive lineup of groundbreaking technology. The full scope of supply included a chip handling plant with the world's largest 360° Stacker Reclaimers, the very first complete fiberline with COMPACT PRESS wash presses, China’s largest recovery boiler, the world’s largest single lime kiln plant in terms of capacity, and the world’s largest gasification plant. ANDRITZ also delivered all process pumps and MC pumps for this project.
Xue Rongjun, General Manager Liansheng Pulp & Paper, explains, “The choice of ANDRITZ to participate in the Liansheng chemical pulp project is mainly based on its profound technical accumulation and rich project experience in the chemical pulp field. ANDRITZ's equipment stands out in terms of stability, energy consumption control, and environmental protection performance, which can meet our production requirements for high capacity and green environmental protection.”
“This was a special project in all kinds of ways,” adds Schmitz. “The customer was extremely demanding in terms of technology, which needed to be the best when it came to capacity, efficiency, and environmental footprint, and all had to be packaged within a competitive price range."
Zhang Yong, Vice President & General Manager, Pulp & Power ANDRITZ China, confirms, “The technology at the mill pushes the limits in terms of capacity, efficiency, and sustainable operations. For example, the recovery boiler enables the pulp and paper production facilities to be virtually selfsufficient in energy. The COMPACT PRESS wash presses in the fiberline are a valuable asset, as they are extremely advantageous when it comes to lower effluent discharge and being manufactured in China makes them cost competitive.
“Furthermore, a mill this size would usually have two lime kilns. However, in this case we have supplied the world’s largest lime kiln by capacity, enhanced by ANDRITZ’s LimeFlash-H™ - an innovative, high-efficiency technology.”
In May 2023, ANDRITZ also received a follow-up order for the mill to supply two debarking and chipping lines, including horizontally fed HHQ-Chippers.
The kraft pulp mill project was announced in March 2020 and started up in July 2024. Liu Junwei, Vice General Manager of Chemical Pulping Liansheng Pulp & Paper, says, “The overall progress has been smooth, and it has now basically reached the designed production capacity. The ANDRITZ team demonstrated strong professionalism and a collaborative spirit. From the design, installation, to the commissioning stage, they could respond quickly to our requirements. Their technical support and on-site services were timely and efficient. The smooth communication between the two sides ensured the timely completion of key project milestones.”
Liu adds, “ANDRITZ provided advanced technical equipment support. Coupled with the experience of the Liansheng team, it has outstanding performance in pulp line efficiency and energy consumption optimization. We would like to express our gratitude to ANDRITZ's professional team.”
Xue Rongjun
General Manager, Liansheng Pulp and Paper (Zhangzhou) Co., Ltd.
For ANDRITZ the project was unique in that it was the first time the Chinese project team had embarked on a mission of such a scale. Zhan Zhiyan, Project Director (today General Manager of Pulp Services ANDRITZ China) says, “This was a really successful project from start to finish. The key factors in the success are down to working under the “One ANDRITZ Way”, which maintains a strong customer focus, openness of communication, and quick action, and establishes solid relationships across the whole project.
“The entire production line at the mill was started up and put into production 27 months after the contract was signed. Currently, the mill is running very well and is close to the full production capacity," says Zhan.
Schmitz concludes, “Despite a few equipment supply challenges related to the pandemic at the early stages of the project, we succeeded in starting up the mill on schedule with the first chips cooked in the digester in July 2024.
Thomas Schmitz
President of ANDRITZ China
The NOx scrubbing system is a 2 steps process in which the NOx emissions are initially oxidized before being absorbed in a scrubber. After a temperature reduction of the flue gases in a quencher, the NOx emissions are oxidized in a first reactor in the presence of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) or ozone (O3). Subsequently the nitrogen oxides are absorbed in a scrubber using a caustic soda (NaOH) / sodium sulfite (Na2SO3) solution.
ANDRITZ was chosen to supply two PrimeLineTM W 2000 tissue lines, TM1 and TM2, complete with stock preparation and automation systems for Chinese paperboard manufacturer Liansheng Pulp & Paper at Zhangzhou mill in Fujian Province, China.
Technologies for every major pulping, recovery, and power process.The major challenges facing pulp producers are to achieve steady-state production of uniform pulp quality with the lowest possible consumption of chemicals and water at the highest efficiency. And to do this within tight environmental regulations. ANDRITZ is one of the few technology suppliers to deliver a complete kraft pulp mill and to have it performing with world-renowned environmental excellence.
ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER supplies one of the world’s best technologies and valuable services for pulp production – chemical, mechanical, or recycled fibers. We deliver complete production lines or individual components for your pulp mill.The major target for pulp producers is to achieve an environmentally sound friendly, save, and steady production of pulp with a uniform quality. High yields at low operating costs are as important as healthy and save operation for the people and the environment.
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