OREANDA-NEWS. June 04, 2010. Ilim Group has chosen Metso Company as the main technology and equipment supplier for a new kraft softwood pulp mill to be built in Irkutsk Oblast on its production site in Bratsk. It is one of the largest investment projects in the Russian pulp and paper industry for the past 40 years.

The reconstructed mill will be equipped with the most up-to-date Metso technologies. Included is a completely new fiber line beginning with the digester system, a screen room, oxygen delignification system, brown stock washing and bleaching equipped with wash presses, a new pulp dryer and ending with two Metso baling lines. A new state-of-the-art Recovery Boiler and an upgrade of the evaporation plant are included in the Metso supplied equipment.

Ilim Group, as a part of its continued commitment to world class quality equipment and technology, has included a metsoDNA CR automation system for all process areas. The Metso supply will also include on-line analyzers, sensors and special equipment for quality and runnability management. The contract for all equipment delivery with Metso was signed recently.

The new pulp mill is scheduled to start up during 2012 and will produce 720,000 tonnes of bleached softwood market pulp a year, bringing the overall annual pulp production of the Bratsk facility to over 1 million tonnes. When in operation, the Bratsk mill will be one of the world's largest and most modern softwood pulp production facilities. Overall investments in the project are nearly 700 million dollars.

Ilim Group continues negotiations with world's first class equipment suppliers to fulfill its Bratsk project.