A new woodroom has been placed in service at the Bratsk Mill of Ilim Group. The new woodroom includes three lines with an aggregate capacity of 5 million cubic meters of chips per year. The project investments amounted to USD 125 million. The woodroom lines are interchangeable with the distinction between them being the type of processed species. The lines handle SW and HW species, as well as their mix.
A completely automated process control from debarking to feeding of chips to a storage area allows not only to minimize losses during the chip production process, but also to significantly improve chips quality. Production of chips of the required species mix by better controlling the wood mix will have a positive impact on the pulp quality.
An important environmental effect involving reduction of water consumption and, consequently, reduction of the effluents sent to the waste water treatment plant will be achieved through the use of a dry debarking method that is now one of the best available technologies. Sand, stones and small hard particles will be captured and sent to the waste collecting container. These efforts will allow to minimize the impact on a water body where wastewater is sent after treatment at the waste water treatment plant. Moreover, automated water supply and temperature adjustment will drive a significant reduction of electric energy consumption.
Construction of a new woodroom required an upgrade of a chip handling system used to transfer chips to the new outdoor chip storages, as well as an upgrade of the chip storages themselves. A conveyor-based chip feeding system has been installed at chip storages.
This system (as compared to a pneumatic system) allows to maintain the quality of chips fed to the Cooking Area. Moreover, Ilim's storage areas have implemented the FIFO principle ensuring an optimal duration of storage before feeding chips to the Cooking Area.