Planning and partnership pay dividends
Södra Cell’s Mörrum mill celebrated a further step in its partnership with a major strategic customer earlier this summer when it inaugurated a new demineralisation (demin) water system. The equipment was installed specifically at the request of a dissolving pulp customer who is a global leader in textile fibre production.
The demin plant consists of pressure vessels containing cation exchange resins. The cations in the water (i.e. calcium, magnesium and sodium) pass through the cation exchange resin where they are chemically exchanged for hydrogen ions. The water then passes through the anion exchange resin where the anions (i.e. chloride, sulphate, nitrate and bicarbonate) are chemically exchanged for hydroxide ions. The result is a final process water that consists essentially of hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions, which is the chemical composition of pure water.
“Unlike paper pulp, where it becomes obvious on the paper machine 99% of the time if there is a problem with the stock, issues with dissolving pulp may not be apparent within our immediate customer’s process,” explains Dag Benestad, Sales Director for Södra’s dissolving pulp business.
“In this case, it was the customer’s customer who was experiencing issues. Defining what was needed therefore required cooperation and communication on several levels. Working together with our customer we were able to diagnose and solve the problem with a very satisfactory result.
This latest investment, together with the new woodyard installed at Mörrum last year, is helping us produce a high-purity dissolving pulp we are proud of and the customer notably happier with. It’s one example of how our concept Pulp+ can add value to our customers and where working in partnership is paying mutual dividends.”
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Subjects: Pulp
