Last Tuesday, the 30th, Suzano started the electromechanical assembly of the power and recovery boilers in its new pulp mill, located in Ribas do Rio Pardo (MS). The structure will be responsible for burning biomass and generating green energy, supplying the new unit’s pulp production line.
“The assembly of the power and recovery boiler structure marks an important step forward in the construction of the new plant and, consequently, in our long-term strategy”, declared Aires Galhardo, Suzano’s executive director of Industrial Pulp, Engineering and Energy. “We are proud of this new step which, in addition to highlighting the presence of innovation in our productions, translates the company’s strategy of competitiveness and new business and reinforces our purpose of renewing life from the tree”, added the executive.
All the electrical energy necessary for the operation of the new plant will be obtained from the burning of residues from production, that is, solid and liquid biomass. This process is carried out in boilers to generate steam, moving the turbines which, in turn, produce energy.
“The installation of the first boiler column is one of the major milestones in the construction of a pulp mill, especially a competitive project in which we seek to combine energy savings with the best use of resources. We are happy that we have reached this stage, which marks a new phase of the project, that is, the beginning of the assembly of the plant, following the stage of the civil construction that is in progress”, says Maurício Miranda, director responsible for the implementation works of the new Suzano’s pulp mill in Ribas do Rio Pardo.
In addition to the energy supply itself, the new plant will export an average of 180 MW of energy, enough to supply a city of more than 2.3 million inhabitants per month.
The boiler’s support structure weighs around 4,000 tons and will be carried out by a multinational in the industrial technology sector based in Austria. The company is responsible for supplying energy-efficient process technologies from an environmental point of view to all the main process islands of the new plant, including fiber production and chemical recovery.
ABOUT THE CERRADO PROJECT
Announced in May 2021 and confirmed by Suzano’s Board of Directors in early November of the same year, the Cerrado Project will be the company’s most competitive unit, with production of 2.55 million tons of eucalyptus pulp per year.
Scheduled to start operating in the second half of 2024, the new plant will receive a total investment of R$ 19.3 billion and, at the peak of the works, should generate around 10,000 direct jobs. When in operation, it will employ 3,000 people, including its own employees and third parties, in the forestry and industrial areas, moving the entire economic chain in the region.
