Papresa, the leading southern European manufacturer of newsprint, commissioned Voith at the beginning of March to completely rebuild PM 5 at the Rentería mill in Spain. The start-up of the ambitious project is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. Subsequently, the extensive rebuild will enable significantly more efficient and sustainable production of packaging paper. The capacity will then be around 205,000 tons of testliner and corrugating medium per year, with a PM design speed of 1,200 m/min. The focus of the new PM is on lightweight containerboard grades with 65 to 140 gsm, the wire width is 5,900 mm and the paper will have a web width of 5,400 mm at the reel. The production of newsprint will be maintained at PM 6.
Strong growth potential for packaging paper
“After the conversion of PM 5, Papresa will be able to produce lightweight packaging papers optimally and efficiently,” explains Marcos Garcia de la Torre, Managing Director Voith Paper Spain.
In times of e-commerce, packaging papers are becoming increasingly important. As a full-line supplier, Voith delivers Papresa efficient and at the same time resource-saving solutions with the PM 5 conversion:
“This transformation is our answer to the declining demand in the newsprint market and the steady growth of the packaging paper sector, which is growing at 9 to 10 per cent per year thanks to the tremendous upswing in e-commerce,” says Miguel Sánchez, President and CEO of Papresa. “The pandemic situation further accelerates the surge in demand, which creates good prospects for our post-investment results. On the other hand, we will continue to be the leading southern European supplier of newsprint. We are glad to have found the perfect partner for this change in the full-line supplier Voith.”
Extensive investment and development for highest plant efficiency
With this order, Papresa is pursuing an ambitious investment and development plan. Earlier this year, the customer already awarded the full-line supplier Voith to deliver an entire BlueLine OCC stock preparation plant for the Rentería mill in Spain.