In 2018 Ilim Group invested more than 23 billion roubles to modernise existing factories and construct new production plants.
Ilim Group’s investment programme covers a five year period up until 2021. Thanks to the modernisation of existing plants and the launch of new capacity, the production of finished articles will increase by a million tonnes, of which 700 thousand is packaging materials and 300 thousand wood pulp.
In 2018, five new production plants were put into service to sustain the capacity growth and reduce environmental impact. «The investment programme for 2018 was successfully completed. We are satisfied with the result and are ready for the next investment cycle», declares Kseniia Sosnina, CEO of Ilim Group. «We are implementing large-scale modernisation of our Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk factories on a gradual basis and will increase our investment in 2019» continues Sosnina. «The milestone this year will be the start of the first preparatory work for the project of building the paper mill in Ust-Ilimsk. These projects will allow the Ilim Group to increase its presence particularly in the Asiatic market, where the demand for wood pulp and paper products significantly exceeds supply. Our objective is to increase the supply of finished products so as to reach 2.4 million tonnes a year by 2024».
By 2022 the Ust-Ililmsk site will become “a million tonne factory” with a total annual manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of products ready to be placed on the market. The Big Ust-Ilimsk project, launched in June 2018, has become a large scale investment project which provides for the construction of a new paper mill with an annual capacity of 600 thousand tonnes of packaging materials. Construction work at the Ust-Ilimsk site will commence in the summer of 2019; a contract is in the process of being drawn up for the supply of a single continuous machine, unique of its kind, which will be custom designed and will have the highest manufacturing capacity of kraft liner board (KLB) in the world. It will have a maximum capacity of 2,150 tonnes a day, a speed of 1,200 metres a minute and a cutting width of 9,400 mm.
Furthermore, by the end of 2019 the Ust-Ilimsk factory will increase it manufacturing capacity by another 50 thousand tonnes.
In 2018 a new woodshed was put into service to support the new capacity. The project was launched in 2015 and completed in 2018, with 3.3 billion roubles of expenses in capital expenditure. The new wood room includes two automatic chipping lines with a total annual capacity of 4 million m3 of wood chips. The cutting edge production process will reduce wood loss and the consumption of water and electrical energy per unit of product.
Another significant technological and environmental project involved the updating of RB3. Work started in August 2017 and finished last November with 3.9 billion roubles of expenses in capital expenditure.
The modernisation of the recovery boiler has increased its capacity up to 1,750 tonnes of dry solids a day. The project involved an update of 95% of the equipment, including the replacement of almost all the heating surfaces, the installation of new economisers, superheaters and other components, and the automated process control system. With the aim of ensuring safe, efficient operation of the recovery boilers so as to support the increase in capacity, the Group has had to reconstruct the evaporation stations.
By the end of 2021, in the Bratsk factory of the Ilim group various strategic projects will be implemented for a total of more than 38 billion roubles. The modernisation of the KLB line, which will be completed in the Autumn of 2019, will enable production volumes to be increased by 110 thousand tonnes. The reconstruction of the HW line will be completed in 2020 in order to increase annual production by 173 thousand tonnes. In 2018 the reconstruction of a purified water plant was carried out in the context of preparing for expansion of the capacity and increase in the production volumes. The project started in April 2017 and was completed in August 2018. Total expenses were 700 million roubles. It was decided to reconstruct the plant for the chemical treatment of water and to install a new water treatment unit with a design capacity of 400 cubic metres an hour in order to support the operation of the enhanced recovery boiler. The reconstruction of the purified water plant will contribute to saving resources.
Finally, the PM6 has been updated at the Koryazhma factory. The project, for a total investment of 200 million roubles, commenced in 2018 and was completed last February. In particular, the objective of this investment was to replace the headbox. The old box had been in use since 1992. The installation of a new MasterJetTM Pro headbox with ModuleJect dilution system and Profilmatic control software will enable the quantity of waste to be reduced, expand the mix of white paper products to the PM6 and improve the quality.