UPM Fray Bentos takes advantage of a new Valmet Kappa Analyzer
Jul 27, 2020
When UPM Fray Bentos decided to replace its aging Kappa Brite Analyzer after over 10 years of sterling service they again chose Valmet and in 2019 installed the latest online analyzer Valmet Kappa QC. The UPM Fray Bentos mill, located on the banks of the River Uruguay, produces 1,3 million tons/annum of bleached kraft pulp. The end product, UPM Euca, is a versatile fiber made from plantation-grown eucalyptus. It is used to create clean, soft and smooth tissue products but also provides good surface and optical properties for printing and writing end uses. Quick refinability, high brightness and good cleanliness make it a choice for several specialty paper types.
We aim to provide our customers with very clean pulp of stable brightness all the time, so brightness measurements need to be very accurate, with a small standard deviation and as frequent as possible. But in addition, we wanted the analyzer to identify and measure very small, semi bleached shives which are difficult to detect, even to the human eye. This was a challenge during equipment selection: some analyzers were not able to detect such shives at all.
Inés Eluén, Process Manager
Summary
Location
Fray Bentos, Uruguay
Challenge
The old Kappa Brite was approaching end-of-life and the mill took the change as an opportunity to add further value: increase the frequency of kappa and brightness results and measure shives and fiber morphology along the fiberline.
