Norske Skog invests in TMP operations at Saugbrugs mill

Norske Skog will replace the existing thermo-mechanical pulp plant at the Saugbrugs SC paper mill in Halden in order to produce more competitive TMP.

Norske Skog is planning to modernise thermo-mechanical pulp operations at the Saugbrugs mill in Halden, Norway. The company says it will invest NOK220m, about €29m in a modern TMP plant in order to reduce energy and raw materials consumption at the mill and increase paper quality. Production start-up is scheduled for spring 2014.

Norske Skog believes that the new TMP pulp plant will increase competitiveness of the Saugbrugs mill as it “will supply pulp to the paper machines at a much lower cost than today.” The company explained that the investment in a modern, energy-efficient thermo-mechanical plant was necessary in order to maintain operations at the Saugbrugs site. Enova, the public company owned by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway; will contribute NOK50m (€6,6m) to the project, because of its considerable energy savings, according to Norske Skog.

Norske Skog Saugbrugs runs three paper machines with a combined annual capacity of 545.000 tpy of magazine paper. 550 people are employed at the site near Halden, in south-east Norway. The mill has suffered a major TMP plant fire in February 2011. SC paper production on two out of three paper machines was suspended for four months, cutting paper production by 30,000 to 35,000 tonnes per month.