News
Veracel reaches full capacity in world record time
Photo: Nilton Souza
On Sunday November 6, the Veracel Celulose mill completed 30 consecutive days producing the average amount for which it was designed - 2,543 tons of bleached eucalyptus pulp, thus reaching full operating capacity and the conclusion of the so-called "learning curve."
In a process manufacturing facility, the learning curve represents the period during which real time operating tests are conducted, eventual adjustments and repairs to equipment and installations are carried out and the mill is set up to operate continuously at the pace it was designed for.
In the case of Veracel, this period was concluded only 174 days after it first entered into operation, last May, when the first wood chips fueled the digester, one of the mill's main pieces of process equipment.
The learning curve concept also is applied for reaching the scheduled product quality parameters, which was accomplished in July only 59 days after startup of operations.
These facts represent two more world records in the development of the Veracel project. Other important landmarks have been the installation of the project, which took 22 months, and the effective construction of the mill, concluded in 17 months - both record marks for industrial projects of this size.
Veracel is located in the south of Bahia, and is co-owned in equal proportion by Brazil's Aracruz Celulose, the leading world producer of short fiber pulp, and Stora Enso of Sweden-Finland, the world's largest paper manufacturer. On September 28, the Veracel pulp mill was officially inaugurated in the presence of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.