News Water & Chemicals
Kemira the primary chemical supplier for Cascades’ recycled board mill

Cascades has selected Kemira as the primary chemical supplier for its new recycled board mill in North America. The Canadian-based producer of sustainable packaging solutions is converting its Bear Island mill in Virginia, U.S., to a containerboard machine that will produce lightweight 100 percent recycled linerboard and medium grades for the North American market.

As the primary chemical supplier, Kemira will provide the majority of the process and functional chemicals to the Bear Island mill. In addition, it will offer its chemistry application expertise that is required for the end-to-end board manufacturing process.

Cascades expects the Bear Island mill grade conversion to be completed by the end of 2022. The mill will have an annual production capacity of about 465,000 tons when in full operation.

“Converting a paper machine to produce a new grade and meet new quality parameters is a challenging task and requires complete re-design and re-optimization of chemistry applications. We are proud that Cascades has chosen Kemira to be their partner in this major machine start-up. With our total chemistry management and application expertise, we can help the mill achieve their product quality and productivity targets as soon as possible,” said Tuija Pohjolainen-Hiltunen, senior vice-president, commercial at Kemira Pulp & Paper Americas.

Kemira will continue to operate the chemical applications at the mill after it is started up. It will also implement digital services to maximize machine performance and support improvement.

“Our KemConnect digital services allow real-time visibility and predictive capabilities for deeper understanding of chemistry impact and process performance, which provides opportunities to increase operational efficiency, quality, and productivity,” added Pohjolainen-Hiltunen.