Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd (TNPL) plans to set up a 300 TPD de-inking plant to produce pulp from recycled waste paper. The mentioned de-inking line would require an investment of Rs 174 crore and is expected to go on stream in 2011. The company will also modernise its steam and power generation facilities at a cost of Rs 135 crore.
These investments follow its ongoing Rs 1,000 crore expansion plan to increase its paper production capacity to 4 lakh TPA from the present 2.45 lakh TPA. The expansion of pulp production and captive power facilities will complement this capacity expansion.
TNPL now has an 840 TPD pulp capacity using bagasse and wood. Now, waste paper will be the third raw material source for pulp supporting its plans to continue being self sufficient in raw material even with the capacity expansion which will add a third paper machine. TNPL will avoid using imported pulp which can be volatile in terms of pricing.
The de-inking plant will be of printing and writing paper grade and help TNPL continue with its current range of products in printing and writing paper. As a relatively lower cost raw material, the recycled pulp will help TNPL be cost competitive in low-end products, including note-book paper for the academic segment which is cost-conscious, the sources said.
The captive power plant will be expanded to 83 MW from the present 68 MW by replacing three old boilers with a single high capacity unit.
previous post