To supplement fibre supplies at its Kawerau mechanical pulp mill, Norske Skog Tasman purchases chips from a number of nearby sawmills. These chips are added to the furnish for the thermo-mechanical pulp and refiner mechanical pulp plants as needed.
As wood waste from sawmills has different fibre characteristics to the mill’s conventional chips, mixing different chip resources haphazardly could have detrimental effects on pulp quality. It is therefore important to keep the sawmill chips separate from the mill’s conventional supply of chips.
Beca AMEC was commissioned to provide a feasibility study and capital cost estimate, as well as the detailed engineering, construction management and commissioning services for a new storage and reclaim facility that would cater for two separate chip resources, allowing operators to mix them in desired proportions to fine tune the quality of the end product.
The team designed and developed a new storage and reclaim facility for the sawmill chips, with a concrete slab and complete materials handling solution. Major components included a variety of conveyors to deliver the chips to the pulping plant. A solid understanding of softwood fibre characteristics facilitated a cost-effective design.
Wide-ranging design and construction management experience within the Beca AMEC team helped to complete the project within budget, and within the aggressive four-and-a-half month schedule from receipt of capital approval.
The new facility provided greater flexibility in terms of the chip resource available to mill operations, and also resulted in improved overall fibre security, reduced fibre demand and reduced newsprint pulp cost.