What Printers Want In Uncoated
Printing papers see a methodical U.S. expansion. A growing paper firm says local sources are lacking.
By Bill Esler -- Graphic Arts Online, December 1, 2008
There would seem to be no shortage of paper supply in the U.S., as mills curtail output. But printers aren't always finding what they want, says Grupo Portucel Soporcel. A study of U.S. printers found their biggest pet peeves were paper jams and lack of uniformity in trim, which the Portuguese papermaker says it will address as it prepares for major expansion in the U.S. and completes a $754 million project for two of the largest Metso paper machines in the world. When these start delivering in August, the firm will rank as the largest uncoated wood-free paper producer in Europe.
Already serving the U.S. from inventory at five warehouses (Los Angeles, Houston, Baltimore, Savannah, GA, and Port Elizabeth, NY), Portucel Soporcel supplies cut sheet 99-brightness Navigator Platinum in up to 32 lb. for office printers and digital presses (28 lb. in sizes to 12×18´´). It also offers 97-brightness Soporset offset text 40- to 80-lb. in a wide range of folio sizes at Unisource and other merchants.
Portucel Soporcel is far along on construction of its large new mill, which will feature two paper machines that are integrated (i.e., pulp is produced and fed through a sluice directly into the machines). Each highly automated machine is extraordinarily large—36.4´ wide and 597´ long—almost the length of three Boeing 777 jetliners, triple the customary length of a paper machine.
The mill is fed by a domestic supply, delivering a steady source of scientifically farmed eucalyptus trees. These are propagated not through seedlings, but via “vegetative cloning” using cuttings from a small field of ideal tree parents. This results in consistent trees, harvested at age 12 (stumps regenerate twice more) to deliver low lignin pulp (hence not yellowing and easier to whiten) with short, uniform fibers. (See May 08 GAM p.58.) The net result, says Portucel Soporcel, is papers with optimal stiffness, opacity, brightness, poracity and formation, dimensional stability and slightly lower weights (and thus greater yield) than competing lines. Soporset finds use in auto manuals and pharmaceutical outserts, where higher opacity and low basis weight lets it fold down compactly.
The new mill at the river Sado in the district of Setúbal, south of Lisbon, will have a capacity of 551,000 short tons per year, bringing the firm's output to some 1.65 million short tons. It will meet environmental standards in force in Europe, with 92% of energy from biomass. With an annual turnover of over $1.5 billion, the paper company exports 92% of its production, 10% of it to the U.S. The new mill will allow it to increase its exports to around $1.750 billion and directly create 350 jobs.
ONLINE: go to graphicartsonline.com/paper
