Bohus, Sweden June 16, 2006 - Eka Chemicals do Brazil S.A., a company within the Akzo Nobel group, has signed an agreement with Suzano Papel e Celulose S.A. to supply a new turn-key chlorine dioxide plant, along with a long-term chlorate supply agreement with the Mucuri pulp mill in Bahia, Brazil.
Suzano Mucuri, located on the south coast of Bahia State, is a 700,000 ton/p.a. eucalyptus pulp mill partially integrated with a 270,000 ton/p.a. printing and writing paper machine. Suzano Papel e Celulose S.A., is building a new, large-scale pulp mill line at Mucuri, with start-up scheduled for August 2007. The mill will produce a total of 1.250 million tons p.a. of eucalyptus ECF (elemental chlorine-free) bleached pulp.
Initially, Eka built a 25-tpd chlorine dioxide (SVP-Lite) plant in Mucuri, Bahia in 2003, which has since been operating at high performance. For the new pulp mill line, Suzano and Eka have signed an agreement for Eka to build a second turn-key 45-tpd chlorine dioxide plant. This will use SVP-SCW technology with methanol as a reducing agent. The new process has the advantage of facilitating a neutral salt cake residue and lowering sulphuric acid consumption, and is scheduled to go on-stream on August 15, 2007.
The chlorine dioxide process and plant will be operated by the pulp mill staff, and remote-monitored from the Eka Chemicals factory in Jundiai, Brazil, supported by the Eka operations center in Stockvik, Sweden.
The agreement includes a 15-year supply of sodium chlorate to be delivered from the new Eka Chemicals plant, which started up in 2005 in Eunápolis, Bahia.
Since the early 90s, Eka Chemicals do Brazil has delivered several chlorine dioxide turn-key plants via its Cellchem division, with the majority of which included exclusive, long-term, sodium-chlorate supply agreements.
Eka Chemicals do Brazil, with sodium chlorate plants in Jundiaí, São Paulo, and Eunapolis, Bahia, is the leading supplier of sodium chlorate to the cost-competitive and export-oriented eucalyptus ECF pulp mills in Brazil. All wood supply to the Mucuri pulp mill comes from Eucalyptus plantations that have been awarded FSC certification.
For further information, please contact:
Eka Chemicals do Brasil, S.A. Jundiai
Valentin Suchek, President
Phone +55 11 45 89 48 85
Eka Chemicals AB, Bohus, Sweden
Phone +46 31 58 70 00
Erik Widén, Communications Manager
Eka Chemicals, with its 2,900 employees in 30 countries, is a business unit within Akzo Nobel. Turnover in 2005 amounted to EUR 889 million. Eka Chemicals is a leading supplier of bleaching chemicals, paper chemicals and systems to the pulp and paper industry throughout the world, and supplies specialty chemicals to, among others, the pharmaceuticals industry, water treatment and electronics industry. www.eka.com
Akzo Nobel is a Global Fortune 500 company, listed on both the Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ stock exchanges. It is also included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and FTSE4Good Index. Based in the Netherlands, it is a multi-cultural organization, serving customers throughout the world with human and animal healthcare products, coatings and chemicals. Akzo Nobel employs around 61,500 people and conducts activities in four segments − human and animal health, coatings and chemicals − subdivided into 13 business units, with operating subsidiaries in more than 80 countries. Consolidated revenues for 2005 totalled EUR 13 billion. www.akzonobel.com