Espoo, Finland 22 May 2017 -- Valmet will supply an off-machine coater rebuild for Hansol Paper Co., Ltd., at its Shintanjin site in South Korea. The target of the rebuild is to convert the paper mill for thermal paper production, and to increase production and market share of high quality thermal grades. Today the off-machine coater is producing coated wood-free paper grades. The mill will gradually decrease the portion of printing papers and other low-profit products. The start-up of the rebuilt machine is scheduled for 2018.

The order is included in Valmet's second quarter 2017 orders received. The value of the order will not be disclosed. The value of an order of this type is typically EUR 10-20 million.

"The making of thermal paper is quite challenging. Thermal coating color is very expensive and requires very sensitive drying. Valmet has a long history of providing successful thermal coating machines - our technology and process knowhow is on a very good level. The references and the knowhow about thermal process convinced Hansol Paper to choose Valmet", says Senior Sales Manager Pekka Jernberg from Valmet.

Technical information about the delivery

Valmet's delivery for the off-machine coater will include a new OptiCoat Layer curtain coating station, which gives a very good coverage even with thin layers, thus the amount of expensive thermal coating color can be kept low. The delivery includes also two calenders, a reel and coating air dryers. The capacity and the temperatures of the air dryers have been carefully calculated and optimized for high quality thermal paper. The delivery will also include a supply system for the curtain coater unit.

The 5,300 mm wide (reel) off machine coater will produce fine paper and thermal grades. The design speed for the new parts is 1,500 m/min. After the rebuild, the thermal paper production capacity of Hansol Paper will be approximately 320,000 tonnes/year.

Information about the customer Hansol Paper

Founded in 1971, Hansol Paper is a part of Hansol Group and it is the largest Korean paper maker. It produces a variety of products including printing and writing paper, carton board, fine paper, thermal paper and other specialty paper at its Janghang, Daejeon, Cheonan and Shintanjin mills. Hansol Paper announced its merger with Hansol Artone Paper at the beginning of 2017. The company is aiming for global markets.

Valmet is the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers.

Valmet's strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production. Our advanced services and automation solutions improve the reliability and performance of our customers' processes and enhance the effective utilization of raw materials and energy.

Valmet's net sales in 2016 were approximately EUR 2.9 billion. Our 12,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day. Valmet's head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.