Brazil's Bahia Pulp Biomass Plant Invests $550 Million to Expand its Capacity

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Brazil's Bahia Pulp (Bahia, Brazil), a company that produces alpha- and kraft-dissolving pulp, will invest $550 million to increase the capacity of its 13.6-megawatt (MW) thermoelectric plant to 108.6 MW. The Siemens steam turbine, Alstom generator and Kvaerner chemical-recovery boiler are located in the Camacari Municipality and fueled by black liqueur.

The company began constructing the plant in November 2006, and it is expected to be complete in March 2008. It will be equipped with two 47.5-MW steam turbines, Brazilian WEG generators and CBC boilers. The TME 35000A turbines were manufactured by Brazil's TGM Group (Sao Paulo, Brazil). According to TGM Director Antonio Gilberto Gallati, these are the biggest turbines that the firm has produced.

Bahia pulp thermal plant, formerly named UTE Bacell, produces energy for self-consumption, but after the capacity is extended, it will become an independent producer and commercialize the 30-MW surpluses.

Bahia Pulp belongs to the Sateri Internacional Group, a business group dedicated to soluble pulp and viscose production. The company produces 115,000 tons of soluble pulp per year and is carrying out feasibility studies to increase its production capacity threefold. The plant uses eucalyptus wood harvested from the company's eucalyptus plantations as raw material.

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