Sustainable board production with less CO2 emissions and fibers at Nippon Dynawave Packaging

In Longview, Washington, Nippon Dynawave Packaging (NDP) operates a single-line facility producing liquid packaging board and market pulp. In September 2016, NDP was formed when Weyerhaeuser sold its liquid packaging board business to Nippon Paper Industries. For more than ten years, Valmet has been a strong partner to NDP, having executed several projects in the mill.

In the past two years, Nippon Dynawave Packaging has partnered with Valmet on two signature projects that helped to achieve the pulp and board producer’s goals. First the installation and start-up of a Valmet pulp drying and baling line, followed soon after by the installation and start-up of an OptiCalender metal belt calender.

Addressing the changing needs of the marketplace

While the liquid packaging markets have remained largely stable, nonintegrated paper producers, the traditional customer base for wet lap market pulp, have decreased significantly in the Pacific Northwest. With a limited geographical range and declining customer base, there was a need for a product that could be shipped anywhere in the world. NDP therefore decided to invest in a new pulp drying and baling line and a pulper feed system to adjust to the changing market demand.

“The investment will allow the mill to supply a global customer base and give the business additional opportunities we’ve previously lacked,” says Andrew Cooper, Vice President, Operations at NDP.

NDP’s products play an essential role in delivering fresh liquids to nourish people all over the world. Their board holds fresh liquids for school milks, fruit juices, nectars, coffee and water, and provides packaging for various food service applications. NDP’s pulp is used by tissue and towel manufacturers, packaging, and communication paper producers, and even pet bedding manufacturers.

“The new pulp drying and baling line project is the first large greenfield project executed since the acquisition. The project has been both challenging and exciting,” says Cooper.  The project featured Valmet Airborne Dyer and Valmet Baling technology and included an automatic pulper feed system to ensure the safest possible operating system.  With the new system in place, NDP can remain flexible, adapting to the market by choosing the most economical fiber for the moment while still maximizing its pulp production capacity.

From left to right: Aidan McCormick, Pulp Dryer Equipment Manager, NDP, and Joe Lambie, Project Manager and Team Lead, Valmet, work together on-site.

Delivering sustainable board with less CO₂ emissions and fibers

In pursuit of its sustainability goals, NDP succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and using less fibers for the same amount of board with Valmet’s metal belt calender. “Putting a metal belt calender on our paper machine allowed us to use less fibers to make the same quality board for our customers, which is really revolutionary to this business,” says John Carpenter, President, NDP. 

While there were some challenges with the installation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was able to deliver above and beyond expectations. NDP chose Valmet as a supplier for the metal belt calender after doing extensive pilot work. They made some uncalendered paper and sent it to the Valmet Paper Technology Center in Järvenpää.

“Since the rebuild and start-up of the metal belt calendar, the day-to-day operations are quite simplified,” shares Perry Brandenburg, Machine Manager, NDP. “The calender is repeatable and seems to be reliable.  There are only two parameters that the operators generally work with to adjust the paper quality.”  Brandenburg continues: The results with the metal belt calender were actually better than with the pilot scale projections, so it has been quite an asset to NDP to make better paper while reducing fiber demand.”

Strong, long-term partnership yields results

Nippon Dynawave Packaging has benefitted from Valmet technology through the installations of a pulp drying and baling line and OptiCalender metal belt calender. The equipment has increased flexibility, boosted efficiency and enhanced quality at the mill in Longview, Washington.  The start-up of the Valmet pulp drying and baling line occurred in November 2020, and the OptiCalender metal belt calender started up in December 2021.

“Our expectations in partnering on projects have focused on very high levels of cooperation, communication, responsiveness, technical support, and knowledge,” continues Cooper. “The size of our business means NDP also always focuses on cost savings and project returns. The solutions presented in this project have generally met all these expectations.”

Hear directly from the Nippon Dynawave team in this video project spotlight!