Sappi Deploys ABB Fiber Measurement Tech at Maastricht Mill

Global paper producer Sappi commissioned ABB’s L&W Fiber & Freeness Online technology to boost energy efficiency, productivity, and profitability at its Maastricht mill in the Netherlands.

The solution offers accurate, continuous fiber morphology and freeness measurement at the paper production wet end, stabilizing pulp quality during stock preparation, control, and refining.

This improves runnability on paper, board, or tissue machines, producing more on-specification product at reduced cost.

Operators gain better visibility into microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) batch processes, precisely controlling customer-specified properties and predicting material behavior.

The 175-year-old mill, employing nearly 500 people and outputting 260,000 tons annually of coated woodfree paper and paperboard, shifted to luxury packaging cardboard amid declining graphic paper demand.

Customers now include high-end retailers, magazine publishers, and packaging converters.

Wilson Monteiro, ABB Global Business Line Manager for Pulp, Paper & Fiber, said: “Papermakers strive for consistency at every stage of their process, predictable outcomes to meet customer specifications.”

He added: “Sappi is making papers for the luxury market at Maastricht and wants to achieve the right quality, neither under nor over processed. ABB’s L&W Fiber Freeness Online is a tool to optimize this at the early stock preparation stage.”

Jeroen Janssen, Sappi Process Technologist, stated: “We’re very proud of the legacy built up at Sappi Maastricht but we are also set on the future with open eyes for the innovative possibilities.”

He noted: “Together with ABB we are committing to the use of online fiber measurement technologies and we appreciate their expertise. It is one part of the infrastructure at the mill which has recently brought in other solutions for improved electrification, productivity and sustainability.”