Quebec mill sees new life in rayon market

July 31, 2010 by timbercommunity

Canadian company Fortress Paper Inc. bought three digesters and other specialized processing equipment from Finnish company Stora Enso as part of its strategy to convert the Thurso paper pulp mill  to dissolving pulp used to produce rayon, a product with a bright future.

Fortress, which also makes banknotes and security papers as well as wallpaper, paid $1.2-million to financially beleaguered Fraser Papers Inc. for the mothballed Thurso mill. It is up and running again, producing hardwood pulp until the conversion to dissolving pulp is completed in about a year.

Mr. Wasilenkoff said to CTV news he just returned from China, where he was overwhelmed by the demand for dissolving pulp from rayon producers. At the same time, he had been on the alert for a pulp mill in the financially strapped forestry industry, looking for something he could buy cheaply and then convert to take advantage of the booming rayon market.
Rayon is usually classified as a manufactured fiber and considered to be “regenerated cellulose”.Rayon is one of the oldest manufactured fiber, having been in production since the 1880s in France, where it was originally developed as a cheap alternative to silk
Fortress Paper operates three mills, the Landqart Mill located in Switzerland, the Dresden Mill located in
Germany and the Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill located in Quebec, Canada. Fortress Paper’s pulp business will include NBHK with the re-start of the Fortress Specialty Cellulose Mill with plans to convert this capacity into dissolving pulp production along with the construction of a biomass based cogeneration plant.