In 2005, the Andritz Group invested approximately 27.1 MEUR in Research and Development (2004: 21.1 MEUR). Approximately 200 people work in the Group’s research centers in the USA, Austria, Finland, and France to develop new processes and equipment and to expand Andritz’s technological leadership.

The Divisions of the Pulp and Paper Business Area have focused their R&D programs primarily on improving fiber quality, increasing energy efficiency, lowering the investment cost per ton, lowering maintenance costs, and promoting sustainability through reduced environmental impact.  

The trend today is towards large, single-line mills to reduce both capital and operating costs. All Andritz Divisions are actively developing larger scale equipment and systems for pulp mills with capacities of 4,000 tons per day. Sophisticated simulation programs and specialized preventative process controls are used to support these efforts.

The main focus in wood processing is on field testing new developments in chip sampling and analysis, providing information about the chip quality to pulp mill operators. In chemical pulping, one focus is on adapting and improving processes for southern hemisphere applications. In addition, new developments of the Drum Displacer™ (DD) washer should further expand its competitive advantage.

For chemical recovery applications, further development of black liquor crystallizing technology is underway to reduce frequency of service procedures. Developments for recovery boilers are focused on producing even more power from biofuel (black liquor), which also eliminates the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A new arrangement of heat transfer surfaces in the upper furnace of the recovery boiler will enable more effective utilization of flue gas heat to produce more valuable steam in the boiler.

A new lime kiln burner has been developed and is now operating successfully. The burner produces lower nitric oxides levels than existing technology. A new concept for lime mud drying has been developed and a patent has been applied for. The new technology should enable customers to increase the capacity of existing kilns with lime mud dryers, or reduce the size of a new lime kiln for a given capacity.  

For mechanical pulping processes, technologies have been developed to process alternative raw materials such as different species of pine and a variety of hardwoods (eucalyptus, acacia, birch, maple, kenaf). New pre-treatment and high-consistency refining technologies were developed to allow the use of alternative wood species in the RTS-TMP process. Customer requirements include sophisticated process control. The new Bleach Commander™ uses modeling and predictive control strategies to better control the bleaching process in mechanical pulp lines.

In pulp drying, R&D activities focused on single drying lines with capacities of 4,000 tons per day based upon successful Twin Wire Former technology. This design capacity has currently been reached on the Division’s full-scale pilot machine. In addition, development is underway to continually improve the machinery’s uptime through easy/fast sheet threading and process condition monitoring.

In the Rolling Mills and Strip Processing Lines Business Area, R&D activities focused on control standardization especially for the HCl (Hydrochloric acid) recovery plants showing superior oxide qualities, as well as on process improvements for alternative corrosion-resistant coatings for the automotive industry.

Fulfilling the demand of the automotive industry to improve laser weldability of corrosion protected steel sheet, the research work for coatings focused on zinc alloys using electro-galvanizing, and PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) or CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) technologies.

One other important step to improve strip quality during cold rolling was the redesign of the flatness control system. The new flatness roll with closed surface and improved sensor application assures highest surface quality also for sensitive strip surfaces avoiding any imprints. Using predictive control technologies, Andritz contributes state-of-the-art technology to the market resulting in superior tolerances and quality.

The Environment and Process Business Area focused its R&D activities for dryers on the further development of belt drying systems. New sizes were developed and an entire new design based on a full concrete casing was successfully introduced to the market. In dewatering, research continued in order to broaden the applications for centrifuges and rotating filters. The new drive system for centrifuges successfully proved its long-term reliability. This technology will now be transferred to other centrifuge sizes.

Feed Technology's R&D activities were focused on the further development of the high-end capacity pellet mills of the Business Area’s product family to support the requirements of industrial customers for large feed factories. Other activities were focused on the development of a new product family of long-term conditioners. The aim is to enhance product sterilization, following the increased needs of governmental regulations to guarantee sterile feed production. Within the biofuel area, development projects with the target to optimize production efficiency of wood pelleting plants are underway.