Outokumpu has introduced a new service concept for pulp-mill machinery and equipment manufacturers, supplying an optimized package of prefabricated duplex 2205 plate sections for Metso ND to build digesters and reactors for the chemical cellulose producer Sappi Saiccor, both of South Africa. Sappi Saiccor is expanding production capacity by 225,000tpy, to over 800,000tns. The new capacity, scheduled to go online during 2008, will be achieved with a complete new fiber line. A pulp-mill fiber line is a process that involves many wet and aggressive stages. As a result, Sappi Saiccor’s expansion utilizes thousands of tons of stainless steel – coil, plate, and tubular products, in many grades including large amounts of duplex stainless steel. With close to 2000tns, Outokumpu is one of the principal stainless suppliers for the project and has delivered close to all plate material used in the machinery and equipment. The new fiber line incorporates 11 pulp digesters, large vessels where wood chips are turned into chemical cellulose and side-products with the help of chemicals and heat. The digesters have given Outokumpu an opportunity to apply its hot-rolled plate capabilities in a novel way: Outokumpu has put together optimized packages of prefabricated plate sections, delivered as kits to the digester manufacturer Metso ND Engineering (Pty) Ltd of South Africa for quick assembly at the Metso ND plant in Durban. To make the kits, Outokumpu first rolled grade 2205 duplex plates, purpose-designed for the application, at the Group’s hot rolled plate plant in Degerfors, Sweden. The plates were delivered from the Outokumpu mill ready for assembly, preformed, polished, and with edges prepared for welding. Cold forming of complicated sections was carried out at the neighboring plant of the metal fabricator Deform AB of Sweden. In addition to the digesters, Outokumpu supplied tailor-made plates with edges prepared for welding for two reactors and three spheres, all manufactured by Metso ND. The reactor heads where produced by Halikko Works in Finland, and the sphere sections where delivered as prefabricated kits from Deform AB.
