Production Process
Our wood contains the cellulose fibres that become pulp. The production process is based on separating these cellulose fibres from by-products. The by-products are then taken care of in a number of other cycles, one of which is energy. Even chemicals are recycled. Production is highly automated and almost everything is controlled and managed by computers.
When pulpwood arrives at the mill, the bark is removed. It is collected and burned to create heating energy, sometimes after having been pressed into pellets. The debarked wood is then chopped into chips and cooked to separate the cellulose fibres. The cellulose is then washed and bleached. Once the last unwanted by-products have been removed from the pulp, it is dried and cut into sheets that are strapped together into bales for transporting on to paper mills.
Wood segregation
The idea behind our softwood concept is wood segregation. Three kinds of raw material enter Södra’s woodyards; softwood thinnings, roundwood and sawmill chips. Each will impart different properties to the final product, so they are mixed and balanced with great care to achieve the different paper properties our customers need.
Sawmill chips are the main component of green pulps, while our black range is predominantly thinnings and blue pulps are mainly roundwood.
Our mill in Värö uses the ECF (elemental chlorine free) bleaching sequence, but can also produce TCF (totally chlorine free) grades upon request. Mönsterås uses TCF bleaching sequences while Mörrrum is ECF. This combination gives us the option to produce both TCF and ECF products. TCF pulps have a Z in the product name.
Within all three groups we have pulp with 85 brightness and in the green group we also offer a pulp with 70 brightness. Pulps can be either sheet or flash dried. Flash-dried pulp has the letter F in the name.
Product groups
Paper pulp:
- Södra black
- Södra green
- Södra blue
- Södra gold
Dissolving pulp:
- Södra orange
- Södra purple
- Södra purple F
