Bracell’s Project Star nears completion

Photo: Bracell

Bracell has commissioned the first of its two new fibre lines at the Lençóis Paulista pulp mill (Project Star) in Brazil’s São Paulo state. The first batch of pulp was produced on 9 September, according to Euwid. The company did not comment on the start-up of the second fibre line.

Project Star is an ambitious project undertaken by Bracell to expand its production capacity from its current capacity of 250 thousand tons/year of kraft pulp, to 1,5 million tons/year of dissolving pulp or up to 3 million tons/year of kraft pulp. The expansion work has already begun and should be concluded by the second half of 2021. Project Star represents the biggest private investment made in the State of São Paulo over the last 20 years.

During the period of two to three years, Project Star will employ up to 11,000 employees at the peak of its implementation. After the expansion is concluded, the operational phase will permanently employ 6,650 direct and outsourced employees to perform industrial, forest, and logistics activities.

The epicenter of the investment is in the cities of Lençóis Paulista and Macatuba.

The investment in the expansion of the plant will create job opportunities not only in Lençóis Paulista and Macatuba, but also in the neighboring cities of Agudos, Areiópolis, Borebi, Bauru, Pederneiras, São Manuel, Barra Bonita, Jaú, and Igaraçu do Tietê, as well as in the whole State of São Paulo.

The new plant in Lençóis Paulista will count on the best technology in the industry. It will have two flexible lines primarily designed for the production of dissolving pulp. The expansion plan will count on cutting-edge technology used in new fossil fuel-free generation pulp plants. In addition, the new plant will be self-sufficient in terms of power, and surplus will be supplied to the Brazilian Interconnected Power Grid, in the form of clean, high-quality energy.