China’s Yueyang Paper starts up ABB technologies to ensure quality production at scale
Yueyang Forest and Paper Company Ltd. has commissioned ABB paper machine drives and laboratory testing systems for a comprehensive paper mill upgrade in China. As part of the multi-phase investment project, a new machine in Yueyang, Hunan Province, will produce up to 450,000 tons of fine paper per year.
ABB’s technologies and expertise will ensure reliability in and around the paper machine to reach the required capacity, speed and control over the long term. Yueyang Paper has made a significant investment of more than $430 million in the first phase with the machine itself handling a paper width of 10,515 millimeters at operational speeds of 1,700m per minute. ABB Paper Machine Drive, ABB L&W Autoline automated paper testing and standalone laboratory testing equipment – felt moisture and permeability tester – and Freeness and Fiber Online pulp testing systems will all support the customer’s exacting standards and quality targets. Products include high-quality specialty and fine papers, copy papers and offset printing papers.
Modules chosen for use within the L&W Autoline system include air permeance, Bendtsen (roughness), Bekk smoothness, thickness, tensile stiffness orientation (TSO), formation, Elrepho (colour, brightness, opacity and whiteness), tensile strength, bending and grammage.
ABB, paper machine supplier and customer teams worked together to ensure performance outcomes in high-speed operation and control, taking specific requirements, on-site conditions and various operational scenarios into account. Drawing on decades of expertise, the team developed an optimal solution, providing a solid technical foundation for the machine’s efficient and stable operation.
“The ABB team laid a strong foundation for this collaboration through their exceptional technical expertise, a meticulous work ethic and unwavering dedication,” said Qin Jijin, Project Manager at Yueyang Paper. “Thanks to the outstanding skills and relentless effort of ABB’s engineers, we overcame numerous challenges and kept the project on track. When time was tight and tasks were demanding during critical implementation phases, the ABB team went above and beyond, working with a deep sense of responsibility and commitment to success.”
“To have the chance to support Yueyang Forest and Paper Company with our advanced paper machine drives and laboratory testing systems means a great deal to ABB,” said Liu Yueming, Local Business Line manager for Pulp and Paper in China, ABB Process Industries. “It was an opportunity to deliver a reliable, high-performance solution for a major project, working side-by-side with our customer in China. The successful startup of this project not only enhances production capacity and quality but also drives technological advancement and industry growth for the region.”
The successful startup of Yueyang Paper’s upgrade project will drive the growth of upstream and downstream industries in the surrounding region, including logistics, forestry, environmental protection, printing, packaging, chemicals, machinery manufacturing and cultural tourism. It will also accelerate the adoption and transformation of new technologies while strengthening and expanding the industry’s value chain.
Yueyang Forest & Paper Co., Ltd., formerly known as the Yueyang Paper Mill, was established in 1958 and operates as a holding company under China Paper Investment Corporation, part of China Chengtong Holdings Group. ABB’s partnership with Yueyang Paper dates back to 1998, during which ABB has supplied multiple paper machine and rewinder drive systems, electrical systems for mechanical pulp lines, and DCS and QCS systems for Hunan Juntai New Material Technology Co., Ltd.’s bleached sulfate wood pulp project, which has an annual capacity of 400,000 tons.
