Mechanical Pulping Systems Division

Profile

The Mechanical Pulping Systems Division is a leading global supplier of complete systems for producing high-quality mechanical pulps for paper and board makers and high-quality fibers for Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) and Particleboard (PB) producers, as well as complete sheet drying lines for pulp.

The mechanical pulping technology is based on the proven RTS™ TMP technology and the P-RC™ APMP process.  Equipment for pulp dewatering, washing, drying, and high-consistency bleaching makes the Division a comprehensive supplier of mechanical pulping processes.

Complete dewatering and drying systems (the latter now included in Andritz’s scope of supply with the acquisition of ABB Drying in December 2002), together with sheet cutters and bale finishing lines, are offered for production of market pulp with capacities of over 3,500 t/d in a single line.

The Division operates mainly through its headquarters in Vienna and Graz, Austria; as well as its affiliates in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Muncy, PA, USA; Alpharetta, GA, USA;  and Växjö, Sweden.

The Division’s research laboratory in Springfield, OH, USA is a completely equipped and independently certified process research facility. In addition, dewatering and sheet drying pilot plant work is performed in Graz.

Business Development

Final acceptance of the sheet drying plant for Aracruz Celulose S.A., Brazil was received in September after a particularly smooth and fast start-up.  This new line set world records for single-line pulp dewatering/drying (approximately 2,650 t/d).

Of special note is the successful start-up of the Front-End Package for MDF supplied to Jiangsu Dare Wood, China.  The package included the largest Pressurized Refining System ever installed in China with a capacity 750 t/d.

The P-RC™ APMP process for chemi-mechanical pulping was very successfully taken into operation in Canada (St. Raymond) and China (Yueyang and Chenming Shandong).

The largest screw press in the world (1.9 m diameter) was successfully started up at UPM-Kymmene’s Shotton mill in Grat Britain.

Major Orders

• Andritz, in a consortium with Voith Paper and Moura Schwark, will deliver a single pulp dewatering and drying plant including Andritz bale finishing lines to Veracel Celulose in Brazil, producing 3,000 t/d.  This will be another important EPC milestone after successful completion of the Aracruz Fiberline C project.

• For a pulp mill on Hainan Island, China, the Division will build a single pulp drying line, which is planned to start up in the second Half of 2004.
  
  Both plants have a capacity of 3,000 t/d each and a machine width of 9.3 m.  When completed, both plants will be the largest in the word.

• The leading position of Andritz in Mechanical Pulping High-Consistency Bleaching was confirmed by orders, from MD Plattling Germany; SCA, Ortviken, Sweden; Stora Enso Summa, Finland; and Stora Enso Veitsiluoto, Finland.

• Puyang in Henan province, China ordered a 330 t/d P-RC™ APMP system for the production of LWC and fine paper grades.  

• Andritz Panelboard systems continued in their market leadership with more than 25 orders for pressurized refining systems received by the Division worldwide in 2003.  Of particular note is the order from O.o.o. Kronostar in Russia for the world’s largest MDF refining system (1,100 t/d capacity).

Other Important Orders in Mechanical Pulping

Customer, Country	Products/systems ordered
Jiangxi Chenming, China	HC refining stage and a second bleaching stage
Holmen paper, Vargön, Sweden	High-consistency bleaching system
Perlen Papier AG, Switzerland	RTS upgrade to 350t/d
Holmen Hallstavik, Sweden	Bleaching expansion

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Other Important Orders in Sheet Drying

Customer, Country	Products/systems ordered
Stora Enso North America, Wisconsin Rapids, WI, USA	The largest single-line wet lap plant in the world (4.2 m width) including the baling line and Balematic control system
Mondi Kraft, Richards Bay, South Africa	Rebuild of a sheet drying line to provide a capacity increase to 1,600 t/d, including two new baling lines with new Andritz “Autograding -Autotracking“ technology

fiberdrying_importantorders.htm

Other Important Orders in Panelboard

Customer, Country	Products/systems ordered
Asia Dekor Woods Co. Ltd., Qingyuan Weihua Corp. Ltd, China	Front-End Package, consisting of woodyard, chipwashing, and pressurized refining systems
Jiangsu Dare Wood, China	Front-End Package, consisting of woodyard, chipwashing, and pressurized refining systems
Camsan Wood Industry and Trade Co., Turkey	Refining system designed for sawdust and chips with a capacity of 500 t/d
Kronospan Group, Austria	Two pressurized refining systems for installations in Russia and China

panelboard_importantorders.htm

Research and Development

Mechanical Pulping Systems Division focuses its development efforts on process-oriented solutions to enable customers to enter broader markets with mechanical pulps, minimize operating costs, and reduce environmental impact.

Joint development with customers has resulted in significant full-scale mill implementation of processes originated from the basic, patented building blocks of RTS™ and PR-C™ mechanical pulping processes.  

RTS™ is a process to reduce refining energy consumption, and to improve fiber qualities due to precisely controlled shorter retention times for chips in the pretreatment stage, elevated temperature, and speed.

P-RC™ APMP is a chemo mechanical or a chemi-thermo mechanical pulping process which, due to the flexible application of alkaline peroxide solutions for impregnation, allows to produce tailor made pulps at low refining energy consumption.  The sulphur-free process technology is especially suited for all kinds of hardwood pulps and covers a broad product range from LWC, P&W to board and tissue grades.  The virtually sulphur-free effluents are easy to treat in conventional biological effluent treatment plants.

These processes are being applied to improve fiber properties, reduce energy and chemical consumption, and obtain maximum yield from raw materials.  Applications of these technologies are occurring on a retrofit basis and as greenfield installations.

In the area of MDF production, development work is focused on new technologies and processes for increased use of sawdust, optimization of resin blending, high-capacity systems, and reduction of emissions.

In the field of process control, the Division successfully introduced the Refiner Commander™ and the Refiner Protection System.  The Refiner Commander™ is a system with a powerful new hydraulic control concept for complete refiner process control.  It was successfully installed in the Yueyang and Chenming Shandong projects.  

Another major driver to achieve productivity improvements is the need for increased production capacity from proven technologies. This led to the development of a new screw press capable of handling over 1,000 t/d in a single line. The first press of this size started up in late 2003.

Based on the new pulp dewatering line for Aracruz Celulose in Brazil R&D efforts are focused on further increasing single-line capacities to beyond 3,500 t/d.

Extensive trials have been made in the Division's pilot plant with different hardwood species to further optimize the Twin Wire Former concept in order to achieve very high speed maintaining high dryness out of the press section.

The main focus in the area of airborne sheet dryers, besides high capacity, has been improvement of uptime by introducing new devices for faster leaning of the dryer. The high-speed cutter concept has been further developed for large machines.