ABB delivers drives for first modern pulp and paper production plant in Laos

Photo: ABB

ABB and international producer Sun Paper have completed the successful activation of a major drives project at the first modern pulp and paper site in Laos as part of an investment towards reaching an output of 1.2 million tons of pulp and paper annually.

The project, completed by ABB 18 days ahead of schedule despite the restrictions of the pandemic , represents Sun Paper’s first overseas production base and supports China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an important infrastructure development strategy.

As well as managing execution and installation, ABB provided its PMC800 multidrive system and ABB Ability ™ System 800xA distributed control system to keep production of the two 400,000 ton advanced packaging paper lines (PM1 and PM2) of high-end packaging paper running smoothly. The paper machines have a total installed power capacity of 41,000KW over 120 drive points for both machines and are designed for speeds of 1200m/min. ABB was awarded the project in November 2019, demonstrating its technical capabilities and domain expertise, and successful track record on a similar scope and scale.

Located in the Savannakhet Province of Laos, the digital transformation of the mill means it can now benefit from a fully integrated solution that drives higher system performance due to remote support capability, greater running availability, faster start-up, optimization of the spare parts delivery and a more stable and easy operation overall.

“The successful and timely delivery of this large-scale execution from our China Pulp and Paper team proves ABB’s deep process control application expertise and our capability to deliver paper machine modernization projects across the Southeast Asia region,” said Liu YueMing , ABB Pulp and Paper Lead, North Asia and China. “Considering that overseas projects can sometimes be complex, we are pleased that this has been such a smooth and efficient start-up, especially as it took place when Laos was implementing the most stringent measures during the pandemic.”