The customer magazine of Andritz Pulp & Paper Issue 2 — 2005

The customer magazine of Andritz Pulp & Paper Issue 2 — 2005
Renato Guéron and his Veracel team start up a greenfield pulp mill
in Brazil — Page 4

Contents
3 Pulp & Paper
FiberSpectrum is published by:
Andritz AG
Stattegger Strasse 18
A-8045 Graz, Austria
Tel: +43 316 6902 0
pulpandpaper@andritz.com
Managing Editor:
Manuela Wagner
manuela.wagner@andritz.com
Editor:
Robert Puhr
robert.puhr@andritz.com
Editorial Team:
Regina Edelmayer
Bjørn Hansen
Minna Heinonen
Sara Koller
Katri Lindstrom
Mia Passi
Brigitte Poms
2 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
M A G A Z I N E
4 Single-line success
Veracel Celulose starts up huge greenfield mill in Brazil
10 Boosting performance in Portugal
Portucel Soporcel benefits from new recovery boiler
12 Having it both ways
Cartiere del Polesine lowers costs, improves quality of recycled fiber
16 From cotton field to greenfield
SCA Tissue’s new mill in Barton is a showcase of efficiency
20 Room to grow
Jiangxi Chenming improves woodyard and BTMP operations
24 Innovative spiral improves papermaking
New refiner plate design ups fiber quality and decreases energy
cost in stock refining
28 News from the world of Andritz
Contributing Writers:
Michael Bohr
Robert Puhr
Robert Ryan
Jonathan Roberts
Martin Swayne
Contributing Photographers:
Bildhauer/3D Media
Michael Bohr
Croce & Wir
Jorge Dias
Tom Grow
Katherina Hesse
Robert Puhr
Robert Ryan
Timo Vesterinen
Graphic Design:
Morrison Graphic Design
mdesign@logical.net
You will see the use of both “tonnes” and “tons” in this publication: tonnes for metric units
and tons for American units. Unless otherwise noted, metric units are used.
Copyright © Andritz AG 2005. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of the publisher.
Veracel plants some 17 million
eucalyptus seedlings each year.
In addition, 250,000 seedlings from
more than 350 species are planted
in 90,000 ha of protection zones
for the recovery of native forests.
Each eucalyptus seedling starts
its life as a clone — hand cut,
hand planted, and lovingly cared
for in Veracel's nursery until it
reaches about 60-70 cm in height.

Low-tech? No way.
The average person may appreciate the crisp
color graphics on a sheet of paper, but has no
appreciation for the fibers and the technologies
required to make that sheet of paper possible.
Pulp & Paper may be one of the world’s
“basic” industries — but basic can also mean
vital. The European Union's Sixth Framework
Programme (FP6), the main body for funding
research in Europe, lists seven priority
themes. You might be surprised to learn that
five of the seven "priority technologies" are
already being developed and utilized in the
Pulp & Paper industry:
Biotechnology. Forest tree biotechnology
and clonal propagation in plantations. (The
article starting on Page 4 of this issue mentions
this.) The utilization of enzymes in fiber
processing and bleaching. Reduction of
organochlorine compounds in effluents. There
is a huge body of knowledge being developed
in Pulp & Paper companies and suppliers like
Andritz.
Information Technology. There is extensive
use of IT throughout forest products companies.
Order processing and production
planning. In-mill process control and asset
management systems. Sophisticated simulation
for mill construction and start-ups (such as
IDEAS Simulation by Andritz). Also, end products
such as "smart" papers can integrate into
the digital world (e.g. RFID technology).
Nanotechnology. Designing components
that are about 10,000
times smaller than a
softwood pulp fiber!
Nanotechnology's
impact will extend
beyond today's papermaking
issues. "Selfassembling"nanocoatings
will provide low-
Markku Hänninen
Member of Executive Board
Head of Pulp Mill Technologies
markku.hanninen@andritz.com
Pulp&Paper
cost ways to make coated paper without
extensive pressing and calendering.
Food quality and safety. Nanotechnology
enables the creation of "programmable" coatings.
An example might be self-cleaning surfaces
that destroy fungi and bacteria. Security
paper can have advanced safety features that
highlight tampering. Fiber engineering with
Andritz systems ensure the correct fiber for
each application.
Sustainable development. Today, about
50% of the total furnish is recycled fiber. New
systems for energy recovery and reuse, the
production of biofuels, and the production of
biocomposites from nanocellulose and biopolymers
(like lignin or dissolved pulp) all
show great promise for achieving a sustainable
global industry.
Young graduates from engineering and technical
programs tend to gravitate to the more
"glamorous" employers. Based upon the
above, the Pulp & Paper industry can be quite
glamorous, too.
We see this in our own recruiting efforts —
especially in the growth regions such as Asia,
Latin America, and Russia. Young people love
these new technical challenges. The Pulp &
Paper industry is, and can continue to be, an
exciting place to work. Our investments in
recruiting and developing these bright minds
will yield the technologies of tomorrow.
Hopefully, this issue of FiberSpectrum will
arrive on your desk
right before the holiday
season. We wish you
a happy and safe holiday
— and we look
forward to working with
you in the New Year.
Bernhard Rebernik
Member of Executive Board
Head of Paper Mill Technologies
bernhard.rebernik@andritz.com
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 3

Veracel Celulose
Single-line success
The Veracel mill was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
Considering that it was built in a region with no infrastructure, and
there were no local industries from which to draw technically trained
employees — the 900,000 t/a pulp mill is a modern-day marvel.
Walter Martins took a few steps forward,
circled to take in a 360º view, and paused.
"Considering that 24 months ago we
would have been standing in a pasture
in southern Bahia state, I think this is a
pretty remarkable accomplishment."
The accomplishment that Martins
refers to is a gleaming, new pulp mill
known as Veracel. When fully ramped
up, the Veracel mill will produce in
excess of 900,000 t/a of bleached eucalyptus
pulp, according to Martins, who is
4 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
Industrial Director. Half of the mill's production
goes to Stora Enso for internal
consumption and half goes to Aracruz's
market pulp customers around the world.
The Veracel site is no longer a pasture.
Today, the mill complex is ringed
by 76,000 ha of managed eucalyptus
plantations and 90,000 ha of original
bio-diverse vegetation in which the
company has planted additional native
species to help restore the Mata
Atlantica forest in the area. The forest
was virtually eliminated by settlers
and farmers well before
the mill was even conceived of.
First a road, then a mill
In 2003, the Veracel Board
approved the project and purchase
orders were delivered to
the suppliers of the key "packages"
in the mill: ranging from
the woodyard to the water/effluent
systems. Seventeen
months later, the mill was in
start-up phase.
Actually, when the Veracel
project was approved, there
was no infrastructure at the
site. So, the first step was to
build an access road from the
main highway about 45 km
away. Next came electricity
and water.
Walter Martins,
Industrial Director of Veracel.
The construction of Veracel mobilized
around 6000 workers to the site. There
was very little industry in the area, so
Veracel had to train workers in various
skills such as carpentry, pipefitting, welding,
and electrical work for the project.
EPC suppliers as partners
"The contracts with the suppliers were
written on an EPC basis," says Renato
Guéron of Veracel. Guéron was the
Project Director and now is President
of Veracel. "We started using EPC
while I was at Aracruz, and we are
improving upon the concept every time
we do a project."
As an EPC supplier, Andritz took
responsibility for four of Veracel's packages:
Cooking/Washing, Bleaching,
Drying/Baling, and Causticizing/Lime Kiln.

"In an EPC delivery, Andritz is much
more than just a vendor of equipment,"
Guéron says. "They have overall
responsibility for achieving the performance
of what was sold to us, not just
delivering the equipment and supervision.
They really behaved as a partner
and took their responsibilities seriously."
Training and simulation
"Although we brought together a team of
experienced people from other Brazilian
mills, we also have a considerable group
of young people," says Martins. "So, we
have some very experienced pulp producers
acting as coaches and teachers
for this younger group who will take over
in the next two years."
The new fiberline from Andritz
is among the world's largest —
producing 900,000 t/a of
high-brightness (up to 92 ISO),
high-strength eucalyptus pulp.
Martins was responsible
for coordination of training of
the mill operations people —
a process that took about
one year.
After nine months of
classroom training and then
hands-on training at the
Aracruz mill, the young operators
were trained using the
IDEAS Dynamic Simulator.
"I don't see any possibility for
a new big mill to be installed
in the future without the use
of a Dynamic Simulator,"
Guéron says. "If I were to
calculate the payback, I
would think that the Simulator
pays for itself within the first
few days of operation."
Renato Guéron, President of Veracel (left), with Siegfried Baumann, Andritz’s
Project Director for the pulp drying/baling plant. Andritz was chosen as a
"Perfect Partner" for its excellent execution of the pulp drying and baling project.
Quality targets
achieved early
Veracel first put chips to the
Andritz fiberline in May 2005.
“When it comes to pulp quality,
we are very proud to have
reached the our targets for
strength, brightness, and
cleanliness already in July,”
Guéron says. “These were
targets that were established
at the beginning of the project.”
With quality established, the
mill is began quickly climbing
its “production learning
curve” according to Guéron.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 5

Up the learning curve
The mill successfully mastered its
production learning curve, Guéron
says, on November 6, 2005 by
running 30 consecutive days at an
average daily production equal to
the design capacity of the mill
(2543 t/d of pulp). “Many times
we have produced over design
capacity,” he says. “The highest
single day of production has been
3220 tonnes.”
The original timeline for mastering
the curve was 12 months into
start-up. “However, due to the good
results we were experiencing,”
Guéron explains, “we shortened our
time frame. In the end, we were able
to do it 174 days after start-up —
just less than six months.”
SUSTAINABLE
FORESTRY:
a key competence
for Veracel
6 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
Guilherme Araujo, Fiberline Manager
Andritz single-line
"We have the most important areas
of the mill supplied by Andritz,"
Guéron says. "We have had very
good cooperation and the equipment
itself is top quality. That is
exactly what we were after when
we made our selections in 2003."
"There was a time when no mill
would take the risk of having one
large piece of equipment," Guéron
says. "They would build-in redundancy
with at least two of everything.
Also, the owner had to blend systems
from different suppliers since
one was good in cooking, another
good in washing, another good in
bleaching. Today, the major suppliers
are good in all the processes,
so a single line is possible."
FiberSpectrum managed to get a few moments with Antônio Sergio Alipio, Forestry
Director of Veracel. Alipio is a very busy man managing an organization of 2400
forestry workers and helping local farmers to establish plantations as a future fiber
source for the mill. The following is a condensed version of his comments.
“Brazil has some of the most productive forests in the world, and Bahia has the most
productive in Brazil. The average for Brazil is 30 m 3 /ha/a (compared to 5 m 3 /ha/a in
Finland), and here in Bahia we average about 50 m 3 /ha/a. Wood transportation is
about 1/3 of our total fiber cost. Again, here at Veracel we have a distinct cost advantage.
Our transportation distance averages 43 km, which is well below the average for
other Brazilian mills. And, because the contour of the terrain is relatively flat here, we
are able to mechanize about 90% of our forestry operations.
All these factors make us very competitive.
Our plantations are intermingled with almost 90,000 ha of native forest areas and protection
zones which we have planted to regenerate the original forests. We plant about
4000 ha of plantation per year. Our plan is to grow our plantations to about 84,000 ha
owned by us and about 23,000 ha owned by private farmers. We are recruiting the
right farmers and teaching them how to become foresters. This will make a significant
improvement in economic development in this area.
A eucalyptus tree in Bahia grows to about 30 m in length and 20 cm diameter in seven
years. We use in-field debarking to keep the nutrients in the field. Our losses are minimal
(about 2% in harvesting and 2% in the mill).
All of our plantations rigorously meet the environmental laws and are in a final phase for
obtaining the CERFLOR certificate from the National Metrology Institute. We are clearly
committed to sustainable development and see this as one of our competitive strengths.”

The Andritz Twin Wire Pulp Machine has a
design capacity of 3000 t/d. Wire width is
9.8 m. The Twin Wire machine is followed
by an Andritz airborne sheet dryer, cutter/layboy,
and three automated baling lines.
A big breakthrough
The complete fiberline was supplied by
Andritz. Chips are fed to the digester
with the patented TurboFeed ® system,
which uses pumps rather than the traditional
high pressure feeding device.
Cooking in the digester (3010 t/d
capacity) is accomplished with
DownFlow Lo-Solids ® technology.
Guilherme Araujo, Fiberline Manager,
is very impressed with the performance
of the Andritz two-vessel continuous
digester. "I can tell you that we are
very satisfied with our choice of the
Andritz system. It's running very well
with excellent performance."
"The digester is very easy to start-up
and operate," Araujo says. "It's not complicated,
so our operators understand it.
One important quality parameter for us
is tensile. We met our strength targets
very fast, without any headaches."
Araujo views the Andritz innovations
in the fiberline positively. "For me, the
TurboFeed ® system is something very
new and original. It's a big improvement
mechanically, and in terms of lay-
out and installation. I think it's a big
breakthrough."
"The other innovation," he continues,
"is the CombiScreen combined knot
separator and primary screen. It's running
well with no problems."
The bleach plant is four stages of ECF
bleaching and the patented A-Stage
bleaching process. Drum Displacer
(DD) Washers are used in the bleach
plant. "There are no doubts about the
system," Araujo says. "Achieving
brightness targets is no problem. In
fact, we're cutting back a little since we
are in excess of our customers' brightness
targets."
The TurboFeed ® system at Veracel utilizes special pumps to transfer chips to the twovessel
continuous digester.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 7

A “Perfect Partner” for
pulp drying
The Andritz-designed pulp drying system
was delivered by a consortium with
Moura Schwark and Voith Paper. The
Andritz machine is among the largest in
the world (3000 t/d capacity).
The consortium worked so well that
it was named a "Perfect Partner" by
Veracel after completion of the project.
"The team had outstanding performance
in meeting our schedules and always
maintained a proactive attitude in identifying
potential problems," Guéron says.
Gilmar Franco, Production Coordinator for pulp drying.
As an example, Gueron cites Andritz's
action in the design phase of the cutter.
One of the big decisions was choosing
between one large or two smaller drying
machines. "A single machine would
be the first of its size in the world," he
says. "The doubts that we had were
8 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
the operation of a very wide cutter.
Andritz went into a very detailed engineering
study with the University of
Graz — not only an adaptation of a
smaller cutter to a bigger one. The final
design was very well done and it is
being proven in the performance today."
Gilmar Franco, Production Coordinator
for pulp drying, is impressed and satisfied
with the twin-wire pulp machine,
Fläkt airborne sheet dryer, and fully
automated baling lines — all supplied
by Andritz.
"The pulp quality is excellent,"
Franco says. "We are using the latest
technologies in screening, forming,
drying, cutting, and baling. Andritz is
one of the best companies. They
involve us in all the discussions and
work with us as partners. The Andritz
project team was very concerned with
meeting our expectations."

Andritz delivered the recausticizing plant and lime kiln on an EPC basis.
White liquor production
Andritz also delivered the recausticizing
systems and the lime reburning kiln to
Veracel on an EPC basis. The recausticizing
plant includes X-Filter systems
for green liquor filtration and CD-
Filter for white liquor filtering. The
lime kiln is a modern LMD design with
a Sector Cooler.
Ari Medeiros is Recovery and Utilities
Manager. "This was a very good and
smooth start-up," Medeiros says.
"We've tested all the hydraulic capacities
to the maximum and the whole
island is running well."
"One of our most interesting challenges
was to produce and handle the
13,000 m 3 of synthetic white liquor needed
to start-up this mill from scratch," he
continues. "This is not easy to prepare,
and we had never done it before in our
careers. Andritz helped with the planning
and expert advice. They have a
good background in the technology and
process knowledge."
L: The Andritz-designed pulp drying
system, delivered by a consortium with
Moura Schwark and Voith Paper, is one
of the world’s largest.
R: Ari Medeiros, Recovery and Utilities
Manager, in front of the Andritz lime kiln.
Two leaders create a third
"Veracel draws upon the experience
of two leading names in the pulp and
paper industry — Stora Enso, the largest
paper producer in the world, and Aracruz,
the largest bleached eucalyptus market
pulp producer," Gueron says. "The
union of these two companies has
resulted in what I would say is the top
quality market pulp mill in the world,
and we are very proud about that."
Find out more at www.fiberspectrum.andritz.com
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 9

Portucel Soporcel Group
Boosting performance in Portugal
With production capacity of 800,000 t/a, the Figueira da Foz mill of the Portucel Soporcel Group
is claimed to be Europe's largest uncoated woodfree paper mill. It is also one of the most efficient.
A new recovery boiler from Andritz adds to this efficiency — and gives an environmental boost as well.
The Portucel Soporcel Group has a production
capacity that exceeds 1 million
t/a of paper and 1.3 million t/a of pulp. It
has 138,000 ha of forest and an annual
turnover over exceeding 1 billion EUR.
The Group has three mills. Andritz
supplied a recovery boiler to the Setúbal
mill back in 1988. It recently started up
a new boiler at Figueira da Foz, and is
currently building a new recovery boiler
at the Cacia mill.
The Figueira da Foz mill in Portugal
was started up in 1984. It has consistently
been upgraded with modern
technology and, following the installation
of a second paper machine in
2000, established itself as a bench-
10 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
mark for the European uncoated fine
paper industry.
The mill is vertically integrated. Pulp
production capacity is 540,000 t/a of
bleached eucalyptus kraft. To improve
pulping efficiency and reduce the environmental
impact of its operations,
Portucel Soporcel decided in 2002 to
invest in a new recovery boiler to
replace an older unit.
Andritz was selected in September
2002 to supply the recovery boiler, electrostatic
precipitator, and field instrumentation.
Andritz was also responsible for
erection, commissioning, and start-up.
The new recovery boiler first fired
liquor in December 2004.
Built-in potential
The recovery boiler is designed for
2400 tds/d (tonnes of dry solids per
day) and to produce superheated
steam at 490°C and 92 bar. However,
there are provisions within the design
to increase its capacity.
The combustion system includes two
liquor spraying levels and several air
supply levels. With this configuration,
the boiler can accommodate black
liquor up to 75% dry solids with ash.
Portucel Soporcel's manager for the
recovery boiler project was Antonio
Oliveira. "Initially, we are operating
the Andritz recovery boiler at 70% dry
solids content, but we have built-in the
potential to increase this in the future,"
Oliveira says.
Portucel Soporcel's Project Manager for
the recovery boiler, Antonio Oliveira.

Part of the Ash Re-Crystallization equipment
installed at Figueira da Foz mill.
According to Christian Gustafsson,
Andritz Project Manager, the boiler is
running very well at an average of
2000-2200 tds/d. "We know that the
boiler will fully meet the design capacity
of 2400 tonnes of dry solids per day,"
Gustafsson says. "So far, the pulp
mill's production has not made it possible
to run the boiler continuously at full
design capacity."
Gustafsson says that, in its present
configuration, the boiler produces 470°C
and 64 bar steam since the mill's turbine
will not accommodate higher temperatures
and pressures.
Oliveira says, "We are now in the
process of signing the acceptance
agreement. So far the boiler's performance
has been within our required
parameters and has been operating up
to our expectations."
Provisions for the future
"Our future plans call for installation of
additional evaporation capacity," Oliveira
says, “and, we intend to begin burning
HVLC (High Volume Low Concentration)
gases in the boiler. For the time being,
the gases from the new recovery boiler
are re-burnt to avoid any pollution."
Burning odorous gases from the pulping
process in the recovery boiler is an
accepted way of recovering energy
while reducing odor. The HVLC gases
at Figueira da Foz, will be collected,
mixed with secondary air, and used as
combustion air on two walls of the
recovery boiler.
Typical sources of diluted HVLC
gases are filtrate tanks, the evaporation
plant, washer hoods, chip bins, and
condensate tanks. The HVLC gases
collected from the causticizing plant at
Figueira da Foz will be mixed with the
secondary air for the new lime kiln. A
cooling scrubber will be added to
reduce the vapor amount.
To accommodate future expansion,
the design of the Andritz boiler allows
for a maximum pressure of 120 bar.
There are openings for an extra superheater
and screen. This would boost
capacity to 3000 tds/d at 80% dry solids.
The multiple nozzle configuration allows
for a stepped increase in capacity.
Low emissions
The Andritz tertiary air system is designed
to achieve the lowest possible NO x emissions.
The benefit of two spray levels is
better control of the lower furnace, better
superheating at low load levels, a more
even heat flux, and staged combustion
resulting in lower NO x emissions.
In a separate system, carbon dioxide
is extracted from the recovery boiler's
flue gases for use in an adjoining precipitated
calcium carbonate (PCC)
plant. This reduces significantly the
amount of CO 2 that is vented to the
atmosphere, further reducing undesirable
emissions.
The Portucel Soporcel Group is the
first pulp and paper producer in Portugal
to be awarded the Environmental
License from the Environment Institute,
approximately two and one-half years
ahead of the deadline set by the
European Directive on Integrated
Prevention and Control of Pollution.
Find out more at www.fiberspectrum.andritz.com
ASH
RE-CRYSTALLIZATION
In addition to the recovery boiler,
Andritz supplied Portucel Soporcel
with an Ash Re-Crystallization (ARC)
system to control the chloride and
potassium levels in the liquor cycle.
The ARC system uses evaporative
crystallization technology to remove
chlorides and potassium from the
electrostatic precipitator ash.
Lowering the chloride and potassium
contents leads to less fouling and
corrosion in the recovery boiler.
The Ash Re-Crystallization (ARC)
system showing the two-effect
evaporation crystallizer.
Here's how it works: the precipitator
ash is dissolved in hot secondary
condensate. Valuable sodium sulfate
and sodium carbonate are crystallized
out of the solution while the more soluble
chloride and potassium compounds
remain. Heat is provided to
the evaporation crystallizer by flash
vapor from the green liquor flash tank.
The crystals are filtered out and the
cake is mixed with heavy black liquor.
Chlorides and potassium in the filtrate
are purged from the process.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 11

Cartiere del Polesine
Having it both ways
After achieving both goals of lowering operating costs and producing
higher product quality, a new stock preparation system for Italian
papermaker Cartiere del Polesine enables entry into a new market area.
12 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
Like many effective inventions, the
FibreFlow ® drum is a straightforward
concept. The horizontal rotating drum,
which performs pulping and initial
screening of wastepaper in a single unit,
has become a familiar sight in recycled
paper operations around the world.
The benefits associated with the technology
are significant, as the production
people at Cartiere del Polesine, the Italian
producer of fluting and corrugating medium,
can testify. In addition to production
efficiencies, improved fiber treatment with
the FibreFlow ® drum has opened up new
markets for the company.
From lamp maker
to papermaker
Cartiere del Polesine was originally an
electric lamp manufacturer. After World
War II, the lamp factory was converted to
a paper mill. In 1984, the Scantamburlo
family bought the mill, located in Loreo

The FibreFlow ® drum at Cartiere del
Polesine is part of the 450 t/d Andritz
stock preparation system.
(60 km south of Venice). The Loreo mill
produced a total of 60 t/d of fluting.
In 1997, a greenfield site at nearby
Adria was purchased. Adria is now the
home of PMs 3 and 4. Originally, a conventional
stock preparation system was
installed to treat mixed waste. Cartiere
del Polesine invested in Andritz coarse
screens (ModuScreen CR) for the
Loreo mill in 1998. That same year, they
took delivery of new Andritz headbox
screens (ModuScreen HB) for PM3
at the Adria mill.
A new PM4
PM4 at Adria was ordered in 2000, but
finally started up in 2004 when the market
for corrugating materials had sufficiently
picked up. For the new machine,
Andritz supplied a complete Old
Corrugated Containers (OCC) stock
preparation system. Approximately 70%
of recovered paper used by Cartiere del
Polesine comes from Italy, while the
balance is sourced from Germany.
The Andritz system for Cartiere del
Polesine was designed to produce 450 t/d
of pulp. Andritz also provided the basic
engineering, erection supervision, and
start-up services.
Andritz produced all the major equipment
for the stock preparation system,
starting with the FibreFlow ® drum
pulper. The drum is .followed by a
ModuScreen TM CR coarse screening
system. One fractionation unit precedes
separate processing lines for the
top and bottom board layers. For the
top layer, there is a MicraScreen
thickening unit, then a headbox screen.
For the bottom layer, further processing
begins with four fine screens, a Disc
Filter for thickening, a headbox screen,
and three Papillon low consistency
refiners. The broke line features a thickening
MicraScreen and DeFlaker.
Contaminants
come out intact
According to Luca Scantamburlo,
Technical Director at Cartiere del
Polesine, "Wastepaper in Italy is a challenge
for any papermaker to process
because it is very dirty." Scantamburlo
and his team are impressed with the fact
that the gentle action of the FibreFlow ®
drum not only teases out the maximum
amount of quality fiber, but also that large
contaminants are effectively screened
out. Each rotation of the drum sees the
ejection of a fresh clutch of undamaged
plastic, metals, or other contaminants.
"The FibreFlow ® drum is much more
gentle and consumes less energy compared
to a conventional pulper,"
Scantamburlo says. "It also rejects a
much higher percentage of contami-
Luca Scantamburlo, Technical Director of Cartiere del Polesine, examines the
contaminants being screened out by the ModuScreen TM TC.
nants and does so without breaking
them down." Cartiere del Polesine is
able to make such a direct comparison,
since it also has a conventional stock
preparation system.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 13

Above: Even with lower quality wastepaper, the quality of the stock into the new PM4
is improved due to effective screening.
Below: Papillon TM low consistency refiners at Cartiere del Polesine.
14 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
Positive effects
throughout the line
Scantamburlo explains the downstream
benefits of contaminant removal at the
pulper: "The coarse and fine screens for
PM4 reject a very small quantity of contaminants.
In our old line, the screens
were rejecting a huge quantity of contaminants.
As a result, our screen baskets
wear much more slowly."
"At the moment," he continues, "we
don't use the refiner on the new line
because the FibreFlow ® drum does the
job. It delivers higher strength properties
than a conventional pulper. This is
a big, big energy saver for us — a
small fortune." He estimates that the
energy savings with the FibreFlow ®
drum over a conventional pulper
amount to some 40%.
The drum also rejects wet strength
paper, which often appears in bales of
OCC supplied to the mill. Since the
drum removes the wet strength paper,
Cartiere del Polesine can avoid any
negative effects further down the line.
"The fiber yield with the FibreFlow ®
drum is excellent," says Scantamburlo.
"We can now use a lower quality of recovered
paper, with positive consequences
for our overall profitability." This ability to
be more flexible with the quality of purchased
wastepaper has been particularly
advantageous, bearing in mind the price
volatility of the wastepaper market.
A better running machine
Even with lower quality wastepaper,
the quality of stock flowing into the new
PM4 is of better quality than stock produced
using higher quality recovered
paper in the old system, according to
Scantamburlo.
"We have noted an appreciable
improvement in runnability on PM4,"
he says. "It really is a case of having
it both ways: cheaper raw materials,
better production."

Scantamburlo explains: "The quality
of the paper produced on PM4 is very
good, and we have been able to make
a direct comparison by using pulp from
PM3's stock preparation system on the
same machine. The most important
improved characteristic is machine
direction tensile strength."
The higher strength has opened up
new corrugated markets for Cartiere del
Polesine. The company can now meet
the needs of customers who require a
higher level of convertibility, with fewer
breaks and rejects on the converting
line, and a better strength-to-weight
ratio. "In Italy there are several mills
producing good quality fluting and
medium," Scantamburlo says. "Cartiere
del Polesine is among the three or four
mills in Italy producing a product very
similar to paper made with semi-chemical
pulp. With the improved stock
preparation, the output from PM4 takes
us into the realm of packaging for more
expensive goods such as televisions
and other electrical items."
Europe remains the most important
market for Cartiere del Polesine's products,
but the Far East, China in particular,
now accounts for 30% of purchases.
Scantamburlo and his colleagues are
Cartiere del Polesine's mill near Adria.
Giovan Battista Frediani, Andritz's representative in Italy (left), confers with Luca
Scantamburlo of Cartiere del Polesine.
aware of China's potential as a board
producer in its own right, and for this
reason, investments in cost-reducing
technology are vital. But for the time
being, China's demand far outstrips its
own capacity to produce materials for
corrugating. The Middle Eastern countries
are also an important emerging
market for Cartiere del Polesine.
Thorough homework
Cartiere del Polesine did its homework
thoroughly before selecting a supplier for
its stock preparation system. This included
a visit to newsprint producer Burgo
Mantova, to see a FibreFlow ® drum in
action and gain a user's perspective.
But, Scantamburlo points out that
however impressive the performance of
a technology, the quality of the supplier's
credentials is also essential if there
is to be confidence about project implementation
and service. "Andritz has a
good reputation," he says. "We wanted
to make a high quality end product, and
we are doing so. Our experience with
Andritz has been excellent."
Challenges for the future are to keep
improving quality and lowering costs,
especially the cost of energy. The investment
in a stock preparation system based
on FibreFlow ® technology has been a
very positive step in all respects.
Find out more at www.fiberspectrum.andritz.com
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 15

SCA Tissue North America
From cotton field
to greenfield
SCA Tissue's papermaking, converting, and distribution complex in Barton,
Alabama (USA) was its first greenfield project. With the opportunity to start
with "a blank piece of paper," SCA chose Andritz to play an important role.
Jim Haeffele, Director of Southeast
Operations for SCA Tissue, is taking
time from his hectic schedule to show
visitors around the new Barton mill. The
Barton facility comprises a 1.3 million ft 2
papermaking, converting, and distribution
facility where Away-From-Home (AFH)
tissue products are manufactured from
100% recycled fiber.
Barton is a showcase for production
efficiency, for innovative employee
involvement, and for its high degree of
automation. Wastepaper enters at one
end and the finished product is loaded
on trucks at the other end. Once the
parent rolls leave the dry end of the
paper machine, they are not touched by
human hands.
16 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
SCA Tissue in North America
The emergence of Svenska Cellulosa
Aktiebolaget (SCA) as a major player in
the AFH market came in 2001 when
Georgia-Pacific in the USA had to divest
its Wisconsin Tissue assets to achieve
antitrust compliance. SCA was the buyer.
According to Ron Thiry, Vice President
of Manufacturing for SCA Tissue, the
acquisition brought the company national
coverage, but left a "regional void" in
the Southeast USA. To service customers
in the region, parent rolls were
being shipped from SCA's Wisconsin mill
and also purchased from the outside.
"The cost of purchasing and transporting
was significant," Thiry says.
The Andritz machine at Barton is a twin-wire
design with suction forming roll. Capacity is 390
t/d with a basis weight range from 11-33 lbs (17-
53 g/m 2 ). Maximum drive speed is 6100 ft/min
(1800 m/min).
Mark Phiscator, Director of Engineering
and Technology for SCA Tissue.
A greenfield decision
"After evaluating manufacturing alternatives
to better service our customers in
the Southeast, it became apparent that
constructing a new mill was our most
viable option," Haeffele says. "This was
SCA's first full-scale greenfield paper
mill in the company's 75-year history."
Several potential sites were visited,
including Barton. The Barton site was
"just a cotton field, but we thought it
had the best potential," says Mark
Phiscator, Director of Engineering and
Technology for SCA Tissue. "It had a
name (Barton Riverfront Industrial
Park), but it had zero infrastructure —
no roads, no phone lines, no power
lines. On the plus side were the availability
of resources, labor, and the
excellent cooperation with local and
state economic development teams."
In October 2002, SCA's board
approved plans to build the Barton
Operations with an investment cost of
240 million USD. Site clearing and
construction began in November. SCA
started with the converting plant first,
getting it laid out and underway even

as engineering for the stock preparation
and paper machine was just beginning.
Converting operations began in April
2003 using parent rolls from other facilities.
The distribution warehouse opened
in December 2003. Paper came off the
reel on March 23, 2004. The first case
of Barton-produced paper products was
sold in early April 2004 — 17 months
from the start of construction.
Project principles
"One major advantage of a greenfield mill
is that we did not inherit the inefficiencies
or constraints of an existing operation,"
Phiscator says. "The Barton project
allowed us to evaluate our processes
and design from the ground up."
Overall design was based on the following
four principles: reducing nondirect
costs, reducing the number of
times a roll was picked up or set down by
human operations, building multi-skilled
high performance work teams, and doing
things fast. The project timeline was
aggressive — less than 18 months.
Design, engineering, construction, commissioning,
and start-up overlapped.
Wet-crepe expertise
"We knew that our conventional way of
selecting individual suppliers and trying
to coordinate all the interfaces would be
an obstacle for this fast-track project,"
Haeffele says. "So, to mitigate potential
risks and share the responsibility, we
gave a few key suppliers responsibility
for large packages."
The centerpiece at Barton is its modern
and massive Andritz tissue machine. "We
felt that wet-crepe technology was the
best way to manufacture our products for
the AFH market," Phiscator says. "Wetcrepe
sheets are stiffer, hold embossing
better, and have the physical properties
our customers are looking for. The creping
is done at higher moistures (25-
Jim Haeffele, Director of Southeast Operations for SCA Tissue (left), with John Wilkie,
Sales Manager for Andritz Tissue Inc.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 17

The wet-crepe machine's afterdryer section is modeled after SCA’s #4 machine in
Menasha, Wisconsin.
30%), which eliminates the Yankee as a
bottleneck and raises overall production."
SCA did not want a "cookie cutter"
machine and wanted to be actively
involved in the machine design according
to Phiscator. Voith Andritz Tissue*
received the award for the stock preparation
plant (100% recycled) and the
machine. The rewinder was also added
to the package.
The Andritz machine at Barton (PM12)
is a straightforward twin-wire design with
suction forming roll designed for napkin
and towel grades. The design capacity is
390 t/d, with a basis weight range from
11-33 lbs (17-53 g/m 2 ). The wire width is
just over 225 inches (5720 mm) and the
trim at the reel is 216 inches (5500 mm).
The maximum drive speed is 6100 ft/min
(1850 m/min). The afterdryer section is
modeled after SCA's #4 machine in
Menasha, Wisconsin.
"Andritz was receptive to our needs
and was willing to work with us on the
wet-crepe design," Phiscator says.
"They were very professional — and
still are. Every aspect of dealing with
Andritz has been good."
18 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
"Massive machine"
"I was very impressed with the quality of
the construction when I saw it being built
in Austria," says Phiscator.
"The frame is very heavyduty
and the design is well
thought out. It's exactly what
we were looking for."
John Prusynski, Maintenance
and Engineering
Superintendent, agrees.
"The Andritz machine is by
far the best piece of equipment
at this site,"
Prusynski says. He was
responsible for the vibration
analysis program at
Menasha for almost 10
years. "So, I know what
acceptable machine vibration
is," he says. "When
we did the speed run on
the Andritz machine at
6000 ft/min (1800 m/min)
I have never seen a mach-
ine run that smoothly."
End of ramp
Now about a year and one-half into the
start-up, the target is to achieve 100%
efficiency (what the Barton people call
"end of ramp"), according to Merle Stein,
Paper Manufacturing Superintendent.
The end of ramp for Stein's team is the
design specs guaranteed by the machine
manufacturer. "Right now, we're working
on consistently achieving design production
for the Andritz machine," he says.
"Once we reach that peak, we'll set a
more aggressive target."
"My experience at Menasha was on
the fiber preparation side, so I was able
to contribute my experience to the
Barton deink plant design when I started
on this project in 2002," Stein says.
"Things really started to get busy here
when we brought the first crew in for
training in October 2003. Of the original
36 technicians hired here, only
three had papermaking experience.
So, there was a lot to learn. It's been
exciting to be a part of the process."
Merle Stein, Paper Manufacturing Superintendent
(right), discusses machine operation with Charles Noe,
Paper Mill Technician.

High quality fiber from
low quality furnish
Towel and napkin production is about
40% white and 60% brown — ranging
from 12 lb (19 g/m 2 ) napkin to 32 lb (51
g/m 2 ) towel. Furnish for the white products
comes from low grade sorted
office waste. The brown furnish is Old
Corrugated Containers (OCC).
The entire fiber plant, designed for
350 t/d, was delivered by Voith Andritz
Tissue. Sorted office waste is deinked
in flotation cells. OCC is also run
through the cells to eliminate stickies or
wax, according to Tony Epie, Paper
Manufacturing Assistant Superintendent,
in charge of the fiber plant.
Once a parent roll leaves the machine, it
is not touched by human hands. Shown
here is the high-density parent roll storage
area with vacuum lifting crane.
"We are ramping up to full production,
quality is improving each day, and
we're now trying to optimize yield and
chemical costs," Epie says. "We're getting
good brightness from lower grade
furnishes in our two-stage bleaching
process and stickies have never been a
problem on the machine."
High performance teams
"Our papermaking crews are really
working towards becoming high performance
work teams," says Sarah
McAllister, Paper Manufacturing
Assistant Superintendent.
Most of the job applicants (over 6000
in total) had never seen a paper mill
before applying for positions at the
Barton Operations. Pre-screening,
selecting, hiring, and training was a
major activity prior to start-up.
"At this mill, technicians learn by
rotating jobs, and are expected to
master them over time," McAllister
says. "One team of nine people operates
the entire mill."
The Barton Operations has 30-50%
fewer employees than a conventional
facility of this size. Of the 400 employees
on site, only about 300 are directly
employed by SCA. The others are contract
employees providing support services
such as maintenance, logistics,
trucking, and waste treatment.
* The SCA order was placed with Voith Andritz Tissue (VAT) of Janesville, Wisconsin USA. VAT was
a 50:50 joint venture company which has since been purchased by Andritz and now operates as a
100% subsidiary of Andritz AG in North America. The new name of the company is Andritz Tissue
Inc. and it still operates with its headquarters in Janesville.
Tony Epie, Assistant Superintendent, is responsible for the 350 t/d fiber plant. Furnish
is low grade sorted office waste (white products) and OCC (brown products).
Sarah McAllister, Assistant
Superintendent, is shown with the high
performance work team responsible for
operating the Barton mill.
Having fun
The greenfield Barton Operations were
constructed ahead of schedule and
under budget. The start-up curve was
much steeper than planned and optimization
of the process machinery is
continuing as planned.
At the end of the day, Haeffele was
asked if he would do things differently,
now that he has the benefit of hindsight.
"Not really," he answers. "Sure, we
made a few mistakes, but nothing that
is keeping us from reaching our targets.
We also did a lot of things right. We're
well into the ramp-up, learning everyday,
and having fun!"
Find out more at www.fiberspectrum.andritz.com
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 19

Jiangxi Chenming
Room to grow
Three top papermakers teamed up to build a greenfield mill in China —
Chenming Jiangxi. The mill uses advanced technology, including a
new woodyard, RTS TM TMP line, and deinking plant from Andritz, to
produce high quality LWC grades. Growth is in the future.
Three top papermakers
Chenming, one of China's top papermakers,
teamed up with two leading
overseas producers (Sappi of South
Africa and Korea's Shinmoorim) to
invest in a new mill in China's Jiangxi
province. The venture, named Jiangxi
Chenming, was built on a 150 ha site in
an economic development zone at
Nanchang near the Gangjiang river.
20 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
Jiangxi Chenming not only combines
the expertise of top papermakers, it features
world-class wood processing,
mechanical pulping, and deinking technology
from Andritz. The Andritz technology
enables the mill to optimize its operations
while keeping energy costs to a minimum.
Andritz was selected as a key supplier
based upon earlier deliveries to
Chenming mills. Chenming is the leading
producer in China's top papermaking
province, Shandong. "We know Andritz
from past experience," says the former
Vice Chairman of Jiangxi Chenming.
"They are a very good supplier."
The primary refiner on the RTS BTMP line at Jiangxi Chenming is an Andritz Twin 66 RTS unit operating at 2200 rpm.

Andritz woodyard
Jiangxi Chenming uses Masson Pine fiber
for its 550 t/d improved Bleached Thermo
Mechanical Pulp (BTMP) line and also
operates a 400 t/d deinking plant using a
50-50 blend of Old Newspapers (ONP)
and Old Magazines (OMG).
The RTS TM BTMP line needs about
460,000 m 3 of wood annually. The mill
purchases wood from harvesting companies
in the Jiangxi province, both as
roundwood and purchased chips. All the
wood is plantation-grown. The longer
term goal is to source its wood from
company-owned plantations and possibly
from contractors as well. The company
has secured 100,000 ha for plantations
and will begin planting next year.
Jiangxi Chenming's woodyard operates
two shifts per day. The capacity is
165 m 3 solid wood with bark per hour.
Andritz delivered the two log loaders, a
debarking drum, HQ-Chipper, chip
screen, and CenterScrew reclaimer.
The scope of supply included design of
the complete layout (including other
equipment supplied by Jiangxi
Chenming), erection supervision, and
overall process guarantees for woodyard
operations.
Two log loaders delivered by Andritz
are used to feed the log bundles onto
the infeed conveyor of the debarking
drum. The drum is 5 m in diameter and
26 m long. The HQ-Chipper utilizes
eight insert knives to produce high
quality chips. Chips are screened
(capacity 500 m 3 loose per hour) and
stored in a silo. The line accommo-
dates the feeding of purchased
chips directly to the chip screen
and then to the chip silo. An
Andritz CenterScrew reclaimer
provides a homogeneous supply of
chips to the BTMP line.
RTS TM BTMP line
The mechanical pulping line at
Jiangxi Chenming utilizes RT-
RTS technology. The RT portion
of the process modifies the
wood structure by pressurizing
and destructuring the chips in
high-compression screw presses.
The chips are subjected to a high
pressure pretreatment stage for a
short retention period. They are
then pressed to remove pitch,
and impregnated with water — no chemicals
are added.
The RTS (retention, temperature,
speed) portion stabilizes the strength
and optical qualities of the fiber while
processing it at higher temperature,
pressure, and speed. Rapid treatment
at high temperature improves the properties
of the fiber, and the shorter
Andritz delivered two log loaders, a debarking drum, an HQ-Chipper (shown above), a
chip screen, and a CenterScrew reclaimer for Jiangxi Chenming's wood processing line.
Wang Chen, Director of the RTS TM BTMP line.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 21

Wang Chen, Director (left) and Hao Jinglu, Assistant General Manager of the BTMP line.
retention time preserves its optical
properties. An Andritz Twin 66 RTS
refiner (operating at 2200 rpm) does
the primary refining. This is followed by
secondary refining in another Andritz
Twin 66. Tertiary refining is performed in
an Andritz S3068 refiner. All three
stages are pressurized.
The refiners are equipped with direct
injection of the dilution water, a feature
that allows high operating speeds without
cavitation or plate plugging. This
extends the life of the refiner and plates,
while delivering uniform pulp quality.
The RT-RTS process delivers quality
pulp while minimizing energy use compared
to the conventional TMP process.
Total refining energy is reduced from 10-
30% depending upon the application.
After the refining process, the pulp is
bleached in an Andritz system (PMC-
PHC-Y bleaching) where hydrogen peroxide
is used. Andritz also provided the
thickening systems (Disc Filter and
Screw Presses) as well as the primary
and secondary screens.
Heat from the pulping process is
recovered in the Andritz Heat Recovery
System. The system provides enough
clean steam to make the BTMP line
self-sufficient while also delivering
steam to the paper machine dryers.
22 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
Wang Chen is Director of the BTMP
line. He is quick to acknowledge the
technical expertise of Andritz. "Andritz
technical people worked very hard during
start-up and commissioning," Chen
says. "They contributed greatly to the
smooth operation of this BTMP line."
Wang Yan Feng, Deputy Director for the
BTMP line agrees. "We appreciate their
work ethic, and we learned a lot from
them", he says. "Andritz has advanced
technology and hardworking people."
Hao Jinglu, Assistant to the General
Manager of the BTMP line, noted that
cooperation between Andritz and
Chenming has been very good.
"Andritz equipment is advanced, and
the service has been at a high standard,"
he says. "Their experts have
been very willing to share their knowledge.
They come and help at any time,
day or night."
Deinking project
In 2003, Jiangxi Chenming decided to
invest in deinking capacity for the new
mill, and selected Andritz as the main
supplier. Andritz delivered a complete
400 t/d DIP line, basic engineering, erection
supervision, and start-up services.
Both old newsprint and old
magazines are used to feed
the DIP line at Jiangxi
Chenming. The line features
advanced technology that
delivers low fiber loss while
reducing energy use.
The DIP line utilizes new Andritz technologies
to produce high quality furnish
suited to LWC production. The line
includes a FibreFlow ® drum pulper,
SelectaFlot pre- and post-flotation,
ModuScreen screening, a cleaner
plant, CompaDis dispersing, and thick-

ening/dewatering with Disc Filters and
Screw Presses. Andritz also provided
the sludge dewatering equipment. The
line, which came on-stream in March
2005, produces extremely clean deinked
pulp with a brightness of 70% ISO.
Stickies and dirt are reduced by 98%.
Spare capacity
Jiangxi Chenming can produce up to
550 t/d of BTMP pulp and 400 t/d of
recycled DIP pulp. This is significantly
more than the current paper production
can accommodate. The company is
considering options for the spare
capacity, including the possibility of
installing a drying line and selling the
excess pulp to market.
The FibreFlow ® drum pulper in the DIP plant.
Meanwhile Jiangxi Chenming has
ambitious plans to make further use of
this substantial mill site. "We have a
long-term goal to expand to one million
tonnes of papermaking capacity," says
the former Vice Chairman. Andritz
technology and expertise has helped
Jiangxi Chenming establish a strong
foundation for this future growth.
Find out more at www.fiberspectrum.andritz.com
Jiangxi Chenming can produce up to 400 t/d of recycled DIP pulp with the Andritz
DIP plant. Shown are the SelectaFlot TM pre- and post-flotation units.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 23

Sonoco Limited · August Koehler AG
Innovative spiral improves papermaking
Without good stock refining, it is impossible to obtain high-quality paper. A new refiner plate — the
LemaxX Spiral — improves paper quality and reduces energy consumption in stock refining.
FiberSpectrum traveled to mills in Canada and Germany to get the full story.
Sonoco Limited (Canada):
Measurable improvements
in just a few hours
The LemaxX Spiral TM came about primarily
due to one man's pursuit of stock
refining perfection (see box). "This is
one of those plate designs where, as
soon as you see it, you know it has to
work," says Bill McIntyre. "It is elegant,
logical, and backed by sound science!"
As a Regional Product Manager for
Durametal ® in Canada and the Eastern
U.S., McIntyre has seen firsthand the
performance of the LemaxX Spiral TM
plate technology in his customers' mills.
"I've been encouraging my customers
to run a measured trial with the
LemaxX Spiral TM design during their
next plate change."
One of the customers McIntyre
worked with to stage a trial was Sonoco
Limited in Trenton, Ontario, Canada.
"Installing a new refiner plate design
is usually not a major cost item for a
mill," says Jason Giffen, Quality
Engineer for three of Sonoco's mills in
Ontario. "But, refining is a critical
process, so any change has the risk of
creating production problems."
"We started buying Durametal plates
from Andritz in 2004 to replace the
design we had been using," Giffen
explains. "It wasn't long before Andritz
had some ideas about how we could
improve. The plate optimization
process started from that point."
24 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
Jason Giffen with LemaxX Sprial TM refiner plate segment in front of the 38-inch Beloit-
Jones DuoFlow refiner.

Ring crush is a critical quality test for
Sonoco Limited's customers.
Trying the spiral
McIntyre first brought the new refiner
plate design to Carl Matchim, Trent
Valley's Maintenance Superintendent.
Matchim, Giffen, and Kyle Gaetano,
Paper Mill Superintendent, discussed
the changeover before making the decision
to run a trial in January 2005.
The main stock preparation refiner at
Trent Valley is a 38-inch Beloit-Jones
DuoFlow refiner installed in the 1970's.
The refiner has since been upgraded
with a spline shaft (a modification that
eliminates the force imbalance caused
by pulp pressure on a cantilevered
refiner). A second 38-inch DuoFlow,
without the spline shaft upgrade, is
used as a backup. A third, 30-inch
Beloit-Jones unit, is used for refining
the top ply on Sonoco's high performance
linerboard.
"We decided it would not be fair to run
the refiners side-by-side, since the backup
refiner doesn't have the spline shaft,"
McIntyre says. "So, we performed baseline
measurements with the main refiner
in December 2004 and then ran the
refiner exactly the same way with the
LemaxX Spiral TM plates in January 2005."
Almost instant results
"We turned the new plates on and, within
a couple of hours, saw the results," Giffen
says. "On our 56-pound high performance
linerboard, the ring crush improved,
porosity stayed good, and we used less
energy. All from a plate change."
"For me, it was an unexpected and
quite pleasant change," says Gaetano.
"We were looking for something to give us
an edge with our high performance linerboard."
Like most recycle mills, Trent
Valley has to deal with constant variations
in the quality of incoming furnish. "We
view the spiral plate as a tool that helps
us take some of those fluctuations out.
We gain a lot in finished product quality."
Quality improvements
Ring crush and porosity are important
criteria for Sonoco's customers, who
use the linerboard in heavyweight corrugated
boxes. Ring crush is a measure
of the box's compression strength.
Porosity affects the linerboard's performance
on the corrugating machine.
"Our sheet is primarily OCC," Giffen
says. "Our multi-ply sheet relies upon
mat formation and drainage in order to
bond the plies together. The spiral
plates make the fibers either shorter or
more fibrillated to increase the surface
area. This increases the bonding
strength of the sheet. That's why the
ring crush is higher."
"Before the spirals, we struggled for a
long time to get the balance between
porosity and ring crush right," Gaetano
says. "With the old plates, we would
see swings in porosity and strength due
to fluctuations in the OCC quality.
Porosity would suffer because the
plates were too aggressive and cut the
fibers short. Now, with the spiral plates,
our operators don't have to react to these
furnish fluctuations. We now have the
right plates for the product we're making."
DR. PETER'S
SPIRAL
Peter Antensteiner, with a doctorate in
Technical Sciences from the Graz
University of Technology in Austria,
has spent many years with refiners.
He knows both the "theory" and the
"real world" of refining.
"The point of contact between refiner
and fiber is the plate," Peter explains.
"So, if we want to influence fiber quality,
and also reduce energy costs, the logical
place to focus is the refiner plate."
Andritz gave Peter access to its
R&D facility in Springfield, Ohio, USA
so he could put his ideas about refiner
plates into action. The result of his
work is the LemaxX SpiralTM .
Conventional plates have grooved
bars in concentric, parallel patterns
around the plate. The crossing angle
(angle between plate and fiber) fluctuates
depending upon where the fiber
is positioned on the plate.
The bars in the LemaxX plate are
arranged in a spiral shape. This
maintains a consistent crossing
angle regardless of the fiber position
on the plate. The new plate achieves
the Lowest energy, with the maximum
number of fiber contacts, and
delivered maXimum homogeneity.
Based upon this, Andritz patented
the LemaxX SpiralTM plate.
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 25

SONOCO
Sonoco, founded in 1899 as the
Southern Novelty Company in the
USA, operates in 32 countries, producing
packaging for a variety of
industries and for many of the most
recognized global brands. With its
18,000 employees today, it is the
world's largest producer of engineered
carriers made of fiber, plastic,
and composite materials. Sonoco
processes more than one million
tonnes of recycled paper annually.
In 1992, Sonoco purchased the Trent
Valley Mill from Paperboard Industries
Corp. Trent Valley (near Trenton,
Ontario, Canada) has been in operation
since 1880 at the same site near the
Trent Canal (386 km waterway linking
the Bay of Quinte of Lake Ontario with
the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron).
The mill manufactures coreboard,
canboard, and linerboard products
from 100% recycled paper. All of the
mill's products are produced on a
Kobayashi Ultraformer, 177-inch trim
at a speed of 630 fpm, purchased in
1977. The machine can produce about
300 t/d of up to six-ply board. In addition
to base-stock, the mill has capabilities
to slit its products on-site
down to 2-1/8 inch widths.
26 FiberSpectrum Issue 2 — 2005
High quality,
lower costs
With improved refining,
Trent Valley has been able
to shift its attention to optimization
projects. "We're
working on lowering basis
weight and doing all kinds
of fun stuff with the kraft
portion of the sheet,"
exclaims Giffen.
"The linerboard we produced
was 83% OCC in
five plies and 17% kraft in
one ply," says Giffen.
"However, the kraft constituted
over 65% of the furnish
cost. The kraft made
the sheet look equivalent
to what could be produced
from virgin kraft. It
is sold as a premium
sheet. With the LemaxX
Spiral TM , we've been able
to cut the amount of kraft
dramatically. We've made
big improvements in our
cost structure without
having to worry about the
final quality of the sheet."
Kyle Gaetano, Paper Mill Superintendent, on the Kobayashi
Ultraformer machine. The machine can produce about 300 t/d
of up to six-ply board.
"We're also pleased with the life we
get out of the plates," Giffen says.
"And, now that we have been running
them for seven months, we're seeing
consistently lower energy for the same
output. It's about 80 horsepower per
day. Not a huge number, but it definitely
pays for the plates."
Facing constant variations in incoming
wastepaper, Sonoco views the LemaxX
Spiral TM plate as a tool that "helps us take
some of those fluctuations out."

August Koehler AG
(Germany):
Energy savings
and durability
As Andritz developed the LemaxX
Spiral TM , it needed a willing customer to
test and further develop the concept. It
found a partner in a mill owned by August
Koehler AG, located in the Baden region
of Germany. The people at Koehler are
very open to new technology.
Koehler was established in 1807. It is
one of the few remaining independent
papermakers in Germany, leading the
world market in thermal papers and is
also among the leading suppliers of carbonless
papers. Paper production is
about 430,000 t/a spread over five mills.
Testing the Spiral at Kehl
The Kehl mill is the most modern in the
August Koehler Group. The mill operates
three modern paper machines. Two of the
machines have set world records for their
grades (thermal paper and décor paper).
Joachim Fuchs, Production Foreman, in
front of one PM2's refiners with the
LemaxX Spiral TM plates installed.
The refiners on PM1 and PM2 have
been using LemaxX Spiral TM refiner
plates since 2004. Robert Lamm and
Joachim Fuchs, Production Foremen for
PM1 and PM2, and Georg Streif and
Clemens Fahrenwald, Production
Managers, have worked closely with
Andritz and the LemaxX Spiral TM .
Low energy consumption was what
first appealed to Fuchs. "We were willing
to try something new, as that is the
only way to improve," Fuchs says.
Koehler's fiber mix is roughly 70%
eucalyptus and 30% softwood. More
than 5000 l/min flow through the refiners
at a consistency about 5%. Two of the
four refiners in the PM2 line have been
fitted with LemaxX Spiral TM refiner plates,
and 140-225 less kW are consumed in
the line per hour. Fuchs’ calculations
show an annual savings of 75,000 EUR
simply by replacing two refiner plates.
"Of course, the initial cost of the
LemaxX Spiral TM is a little higher and the
service life is somewhat shorter," says
Fuchs. "We still calculate a savings of
about 40,000 to 50,000 euro a year."
The new plates increase the fiber
breaking length by more than 10%.
The higher strength means
that the mill no longer has
to add dry strength polymers
and there are fewer
breaks on the PM2, which
increases production efficiency
considerably.
A "foreign" matter
at PM1
PM1 was more of a challenge
for the spiral plates.
There is no junk trap to
remove foreign materials
before they reach the
refiners. Anything from a
paper clip to an entire bolt
enter the refiners, and
sometimes can have disastrous
results.
Robert Lamm, Production Foreman for PM1
at the Kehl mill.
Once, foreign material caused an
explosion in the refiner — sending pieces
of refiner lining and broken plates into
the stock preparation system. The entire
paper machine came to a standstill.
"All we could do was open everything
up and clean it out," remembers Lamm.
Fuchs told Lamm about the new
refiner plates from Andritz that were
working so well on PM2. "I thought
maybe they could handle the debris in
the stock better than what we were
using, so I phoned Markus Purgstaller
of Andritz," Lamm says.
Purgstaller supervised installation of
LemaxX Spiral TM plates for the five refiners
ahead of PM1. "The spiral plate does
not break," Lamm says. "Foreign matter
either gets stuck or it goes through the
refiner, but there is no more wreckage that
ruins the entire line. The extreme case
has been a bolt from somewhere entering
the refiner. What previously would have
paralyzed the paper machine now left
only a single trace — bent refining bars."
The LemaxX Spiral TM also improved
refining results and saved energy on the
PM1 line. "We refine at 35° SR at the
same energy input as we previously needed
for 30° SR," Lamm says. Now that the
new plates have been installed, Lamm
no longer needs to run the fifth refiner,
so he can keep it as a standby unit, or
for additional capacity when needed.
Find out more at www.fiberspectrum.andritz.com
Issue 2 — 2005 FiberSpectrum 27

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F.2.a.4.16000.e.11.05