Technical Report

Size, costs and energy consumption continue to dominate tissue machine technology advances

Tissue World interviews the world’s main tissue machinery manufacturers to get the latest on their technical and commercial know-how

TW: What have been the most important technical developments at your company during 2011, and what can we expect in 2012?

Andritz: Klaus Gissing, vice president tissue machines, air engineering: “In 2011 we brought new energy-saving features and capabilities to our CrescentFormer tissue machines: Type M machines (widths from 3.4 to 3.65 m) and type W machines (widths from 5.4 to 5.6 m). They can now be equipped with the new PrimeDry Steel Yankee, the PrimePress XT shoe press, and the PrimeDry HeatRecovery ReEvaporation system. This can help achieve remarkable resource savings. We also focused on standardisation and developed a tissue plant design that consists of standardised and easy-to-scale modules that deliver an attractive return on investment. Our drying hoods are available in modular design, thus enabling transport and cost savings.”

Metso: Ingvar Klerelid, vice president product management and R&D tissue machinery: “The focus on DCT machines has been to reduce energy consumption and improve machine performance. Metso can supply a complete tissue line that consumes less than 2,000 kWh/tonne when a machine is operating at 2,000 m/min. The latest version of the ViscoNip press makes it possible to reach 47-48 % dryness at low basis weight. We have also developed an energy monitoring system that will help operators and management have better control of energy consumption and energy cost.

“A new refiner, OptiFiner PRO, has also been launched and it has saving of up to 20% in refining energy.”

Recard: Marco Ginesi, doctor in mechanical engineering: “Several customers are looking for low basis weight paper and high creping ratio. In these conditions, especially for fast speed machines, the passage of the paper sheet from Yankee dryer to pope reeler is quite difficult. We have developed a system to stabilise the paper and allow successful threading. Furthermore, our head boxes have been designed to guarantee high quality paper even when low basis weight paper is produced.

“Our goal is increasing the efficiency of our crescent formers. We are very flexible in machine design in order to meet our customer’s needs and our plants are developed to have minimum energy loss.”

Toscotec: Paolo Raffaelli, technical director: “Energy saving, fibre saving, final product quality and machine runnability are the topics that continue to engage our attention in R&D.

Forming: “The whole area of the approach flow and headbox is one of the most demanding in terms of energy consumption in the tissue making process. We have studied this area with new smart options for the short circuit in order to achieve better stock homogenisation and quick grade changes as well as for working towards higher consistencies in the headbox.”

Drying: “The steel yankee dryer (SYD) remains one of the most interesting areas in drying for the reduction of energy consumption. We are a pioneer of the SYD and has carried out revolutionary applications of this technology which are now patented. Pressing as well as heat recovery from hood and steam are other development issues with which we are closely involved in this area.”

Other areas: “On the dry-end and in the rewinder cycle Toscotec has also upgraded its product range with a view to preserving the bulk and quality of the tissue winding cycle.”

PMP: Maja Mejsner, director tissue line: “PMP’s key tissue projects in the past year include complete tissue lines for GCPU in Indonesia (140 tpd) and two TMs for YFY in China (75 tpd each). Those projects resulted in improvements, especially when it came to easy TM maintenance, such as the Intelli-Jet V™ headbox. It uses new products for tubebank and this has resulted in a unique tube configuration, which has been carefully designed and tested in a pilot station. Intelli- Jet V™ also assures superb separation of stock layers in the headbox chamber along with bringing the flow as close to optimum flow conditions as possible.

“We have also focused on the efficiency of the dry-end area. PMP is adapting bigger suction rolls that are dependent on TM configuration and its technological parameters. “Additionally, in 2011 PMP signed and/or completed 10 Intelli-Reel™ projects.

“Replacement or modernisation of reels increases the capacity and quality of tissue products. Tissue producers need effective tail threading and better web handling. We implemented a new automatic glue turn-up assist system which results in faster and more reliable turn-ups and less paper losses during turn-ups. An old reel can be changed into a technologically advanced and effective machine part.”

Hergen: William Santos, general manager: “We have developed the Smart family of tissue machines. We have two models one with a production target of 30 t/d (15g/m2) and the other with a production of 45 t/d (15g/m2). The idea is to present a simple, good quality machine that can be supplied to new-comers to the tissue market or to current conversion owners that want to start their own manufacturing business.

“In 2012, our target is to strengthen our tissue presence, mainly in Brazil and South America. The local market has started growing again since July/2011. We are also focusing on the Middle and Eastern Europe markets and expect to do business there in the next months.”

A Celli: Giuseppe Antonini, chief executive officer: “After producing and successfully installing three different sizes of cast iron Yankees in 2011, we have developed and patented our steel Yankee dryer. In 2012 we will introduce the outcome of our last developments in tissue, paper and rewinders equipment.”

Voith: Rogerio Berardi, sales and marketing manager: “2011 was a year for Voith to establish its latest technologies launched within the past few years, such as the ATMOS for premium tissue production and the new shoe press, the NipcoFlex T. Our R&D department continues to develop new technologies. Voith Paper’s has also developed a new felt called Evolution which is already a success, mainly in Europe due to its improved life time and after press dryness.”

PMT Italia: Tomas Anderson, tissue lines sales manager: “Our new technical development is within the optimisation of wire runs in the crescent former. This is in order to ensure optimal runability, cleanliness and the application of a linear loaded reel. Furthermore, we have added some TAD options to our product portfolio and are currently in the process of patenting a new molded forming technology to rival existing competitors with improved technical and process aspects: less consumables, less energy required.”

TW: How are these developments helping your tissue clients?

Andritz: “Cost savings, quality improvements and environmental protection are the key issues, along with increased production, runnability and operating safety. All of these challenges can be met with the new PrimeDry Steel Yankee. Due to the thinner shell, the surface temperature is higher than that of a cast Yankee. The metalised surface enables stable coating and creping conditions and extended polishing and grinding intervals.

“Because of the elasticity of steel there is no risk of explosions because of unexpected accidents, cracks or thermal shocks. No derating is necessary, due to the metallic coating – there is no reduction of wall thickness during lifespan. There is also higher energy efficiency because of the higher proportion of contact drying.”

“With the PrimeLineCOMPACT concept we have responded to the dynamic developments within the tissue industry: mainly, new producers enter the market as others consolidate their positions.”

“Entrepreneurial tissue converters are discovering the economic benefits of producing their own parent rolls. With the PrimeLineCOMPACT tissue plant, the client can get a full tissue making system. The PrimeLineCOMPACT concept allows operations and mill processes to be integrated with the highest degree of standardisation. This, together with a shorter delivery time and an accelerated start-up curve, leads to a much short payback time and improved ROI.”

Metso: “New TAD machines are being installed and a large share of this increased capacity will be used to produce bath tissue together with some kitchen towel. The new reel, Advantage SoftReel B, has a belt to support the sheet during the winding operation process. This has improved dry-end efficiency and made it possible to wind high bulk tissue with low tensile strength at higher machine speed compared to a conventional winding against a reel drum.”

Recard: “Our developments allow the achievement of a better quality paper and cost saving on the final product.”

Toscotec: “All of our developments provide added-value on production lines. We are able to secure projects due to the wide range of options we offer. Applications are widely spread geographically, from Europe with its high quality demands, to China where a lack of natural gas is a constraint factor, which calls for specific technologies. In all these cases we were chosen for our ability to guarantee cost savings and quality improvements at all levels.”

“The whole production chain needs to be taken into account to ensure customers stay competitive in the long run, while also being able to meet increasingly tough global environmental targets.” PMT Italia tissue lines sales manager, Tomas Anderson

PMP: “PMP developments bring customer savings in different areas. We are working on decreasing the investment cost itself as that is especially important for emerging markets. At the same time we are keeping the level of high quality so as to achieve the expected parameters of tissue. We are focusing on optimising consumption on the ECO TM, not only energy consumption, but water, steam and gas. We are conscious of threats regarding the environment and costs of consumption and we meet customers’ expectations. Everything is implemented to help our partners achieve expected results on the TM and be a part of their development in the long term.”

Hergen: “We are still fighting for complete machine orders and have recently sold the first former section of the Smart family to a company in Brazil. Our customer will face a huge reduction in electrical, energy and fibre costs, and will present to market a far better quality product.”

A Celli: “By improving the efficiency of machines and rewinders, while also improving on raw materials and energy consumption, and so reducing the impact of the environment.”

Voith: “By producing better quality products that have less production costs and use fewer natural resources. In the end, this increases a customer’s profit by reducing their production costs. By being able to offer better products to the market, this also then increases the customer’s contribution margin.”

PMT Italia: “The whole production chain needs to be taken into account to ensure customers stay competitive in the long run, while also being able to meet increasingly tough global environmental targets. Our developments will help customers become more efficient, more flexible and able to reach the lowest production costs.”

TW: What are the key technical opportunities and challenges facing your clients? How are you helping them?

Andritz: “As with many energy intensive industries, the tissue paper industry is facing increasing pressure to comply with the competitive needs of the industry as well as upcoming statutory requirements to reduce energy consumption. With our latest technologies, Andritz contributes to a company’s improvements. And this without compromising on product quality.”

Metso: “In delivery projects the main focus is on energy consumption.

“The price difference between HW and SW pulp has increased and customers are running more HW than earlier. The stock system has been designed to run more HW.

“Advantage (Cogen) Air System is demanded and has been supplied to cut energy cost. Modifying a traditional gas duo-system Yankee hood to a Metso co-generation exhaust system to heat the drying system improves tissue-making operating margins by as much as 30%.”

Recard: “A very important point is energy saving, and we are very sensitive about it. We design our plant by taking this into consideration, and use high efficiency technical theme paper machine electrical motors and re-use the heat coming out from the hood exhaust fumes.”

Toscotec: “There is considerable interest in the potential afforded by rebuilds of specific sections of the line. In the wet-end we can greatly improve quality and achieve energy savings with new headboxes and approach flow concepts. We have also been able to supply numerous SYDs combined with a new press design which can guarantee considerable energy savings, production increases, fibre savings, final product quality improvement, and all with a very short payback period.”

PMP: “An important challenge for customers is implementing their own technology. They need to find proper suppliers to develop their own ideas in details and implement them. PMP is an open and flexible company that executes tailored made solutions.”

Hergen: “In our market (South America) the key issue is energy savings. We offer engineering services to analyse the situation and present options to help the process. This includes lowering energy consumption and improving a product’s quality and productivity. Our steel fabricated Yankee can reduce steam consumption.”

A Celli: “Our clients request softer and bulkier products and our process is specifically focused to achieve this.”

Voith: “It changes from market to market. In general, the major concerns are cost increases from all major utilities as well as the increase of competition. We help to reduce the consumption of utilities costs, increase a product’s quality and improve the manufacturing process.”

PMT Italia: “The technical opportunities are still very much related to energy consumption. As energy costs are not usually controlled by tissue producers, this will always be a key point, even though energy isn’t normally more than 10-15% of the total production costs. We suggest our own patented solutions of the most controllable shoepress in the market place and also investments with extremely short ROIs tissue production lines.”

TW: What developments have you made in terms of energy? Is it getting increasingly challenging?

Andritz: “Yes it is. There are several statutory requirements and regulations concerning emissions that have to be taken into consideration. Our latest innovation in terms of energy is a tissue machine, the PrimeLine ST.

“It is unique in the market as it combines the high performance Yankee with a steam heated, resp. canopy, hood. The specific steam consumption for drying is only 2,1 – 2,3 kgST/kgPaper, which is a benchmark in Tissue Drying.

“Drying is mainly done through the contact drying of the Yankee and this is more efficient than the hood drying. It is the perfect option for energy and cost savings. We integrate head insulation and this can achieve steam savings in the range of 2-5%.

“As tissue production requires a very high energy input we focused on how to get the energy back in the process and developed the ReEvaporation HeatRecovery system. It delivers a large part of the energy back into the tissue producing process. Up to 30% of the steam needed for the drying process can be generated out of the waste heat using the PrimeDry solution.”

Metso: “Energy is mainly used for drying and increasing the ingoing sheet dryness will have the biggest impact on energy saving. The target is to develop a press concept that will offer 50% dryness for 16-18 gsm products.

“We will introduce new products that further reduce energy consumption and believe it is possible to reach 1800 kWh/tonne for a machine running at 2000 m/min.”

Recard: “We have focused our attention on energy saving (specifically the consumption of steam and fuel). In these applications we have co-operated with a local company called Fomat. We have installed steam generators using exhaust hood fumes and micro-turbines to produce electrical energy by using hood exhaust fumes. In 2012, our intention is to increase this kind of installation, and reduce the specific energy consumption for the production of paper.

Fomat has patented a system to reduce the heat losses on the yankee dryer edges and we have installed such system on our machine.

From technical point of view, it is possible to reduce consumption, but it is difficult to sell these new technologies as the initial investment is quite high.”

Toscotec: “We are focused on approach flow, headboxes, pressing, TT SYD and heat recovery in the steam and hood circuit. During the past two years, Toscotec has mainly worked on saving energy and fibre. “A new range of products, the ES tissue line, has been developed specifically to meet energy savings demands.”

PMP: “In stock approach, we use a variable speed thick stock pump instead of stuff boxes, while in the headbox area we have focused on consistency control. We also recommend advanced machine clothing and polyurethane covers rolls and also optimise drives by selecting the best options for the projects.”

Hergen: “We offer head insulation that can save up to 3% of steam consumption, and this means a lot in a competitive market such as tissue.”

Voith: “On the machine, we have developed a new headbox, shoe press, Steel Yankee, the ATMOS for premium tissue production. It has 60% less energy consumption than TAD. We have also developed several products in the fibre systems area in order to decrease energy consumption, such as a new pulper, the IntensaPulper, and a new refining disc: Pluralis.”

PMT Italia: “We try to optimise the process of taking out water or reducing the amount of water in the stock and approach flows. The shoe press can be applied in new TMs and rebuilds. Our Smarnip technology has been developed specifically for use in small areas and this fits in well within the space between the crescent former and the yankee.”

“Tissue demand worldwide is growing .. there are great possibilities in South America and Russia. Their main technical challenge requires us to present good equipment at a good price.” Hergen general manager, William Santos

TW: What areas will your R&D research be on in the next few years?

Andritz: “Resource savings. Emission regulations and the competitiveness of our clients remain our main concern. Energy is a key cost driver, always asking for improvements and new solutions. Standardisation, going hand in hand with sophisticated logistic concepts, also remains an R&D area.”

Metso: “Our new hybrid technology, Advantage™ NTT®, can swing between textured mode and plane mode producing conventional tissue. In both modes the energy consumption is significant lower than DCT with suction press roll. The production capacity is high due to machine speed of 1800 m/min in textured mode and 2000 m/min in plane mode. The high bulk makes it possible to save fibres in converted products. The NTT technology will be further developed to improve product quality as well as energy consumption and production capacity.”

Recard: “East Europe, China, South America.”

Toscotec: “We mainly see potential in the pressing area as well as in the overall mill operation. Our target is to reach a standard total energy consumption of 2 mwh/tonne for the whole process.”

PMP: “We are in the process of expanding our key product headbox in order to achieve higher consistency while at the same time keeping optimum energy costs and good formation. Suction Breast Rolls are also our focus. The main value that we would like to achieve is better dryness in press section with a very good quality of tissue.”

Hergen: “Our target is to work on cost reduction of our machines while keeping the quality. We also aim to design bigger and faster machines in order to work with good runnability over 2200m/min – a new trend on the market.”

A Celli: “Increasing machine and rewinder efficiency and quality, as well as increasing the total yearly output.”

Voith: “Always a focus on better paper quality and lower natural resources at the same time. That’s what is important: you don’t need to think of those two items separately, you have to think of them together in order to be successful.”

PMT Italia: “Further developing the shoepress and mould forming. We see a huge potential for the shoe press in particular, with no issues in reaching the maximum speeds for all Yankee widths at this point. It’s a great tool for flexibility in deciding parameters such as bulk, dryness and control of quality across the width the machine.”

TW: Where in the world are you seeing the main areas of growth? Are there any new technical challenges with supplying there?

Andritz: “Asia, especially China. In this market energy becomes more and more important and, of course, challenging.”

Metso: “There is still growth in Europe and the US. But of course, the main growth is in Asia, South America and Middle East.”

Recard: “East Europe, China and South America.”

Toscotec: “The BRIC countries represent the most interesting market development. Here, India will offer slower growth while China will certainly continue to be a great opportunity and challenge. We also see a great potential in Russia and/or Eastern Europe, while South America and Brazil in particular will be interesting from an investment perspective.

“North America and Western Europe will be mainly interested in rebuild projects for product quality improvement. So the challenges are great.”

PMP: “We do see that turn key projects are required more and more. The customer would like to have one partner to reduce potential risk.

“We are widening our products portfolio and are open to support the whole investment in TM. We are also specialising in tailored made options.”

Hergen: “Tissue demand worldwide is growing. However, in some regions we see great possibilities, such as in South America and Russia. The main technical challenge to supply such countries requires us to present good equipment at good price.”

A Celli: “Russia, China and South America.”

Voith: “China and Latin America. In China, the major challenge is to design machines to run at high speeds and efficiency and, at the same, save natural resources which is an issue still in China. In Latin America, the major challenge is to combine high production with paper quality demand increases. Consumers there increasingly want access to higher quality products.”

PMT Italia: “The future growth will continue the millennia shift towards Asia, with China still very much leading the way. However, we have seen possible signs of the new five year plan’s de-focus from the P&P industry as Chinese projects have been slightly delayed. This doesn’t mean they won’t happen, just that they are postponed. The growth of tissue consumption will not be stopped.

“We have also started several projects on the African continent where issues of hiring the erection manpower are not to be underestimated. Eastern Europe has also seen increased activity, but projects there – due to the current financial turmoil – have been pushed back. In certain markets, as our industry is prone, there have also been overtechnical theme paper machine investments. There is a worry that the financial markets will determine in the short term where investments and consolidation will occur.”

TW: What overall trends in tissue machine manufacture will have the greatest impact on the production process in the next decade?

Andritz: “One trend is the use of steel for Yankees with diameters from 12 to 22 ft. Another is standardisation and modularisation. The use of steel leads for machine suppliers to higher quality standards as the risk of casting problems is eliminated. Furthermore, they become more flexible regarding the complete manufacturing process as they don’t depend on one special casting facility any longer. For the tissue producer the impact of steel yankees is highly positive: increase of production and runability, safety and energy efficiency.”

Metso: “Most new capacity will still be made on DCT, but NTT technology will be the platform for the next generation of tissue machine.”

Recard: “Energy saving and high quality products.

Toscotec: “Pressing is the main area for continued development in tissue machines, but sheet stabilisation between Yankee and reel and winding operations also require significant focus. The use of different pulp types in new market areas around the world is an issue which requires specific attention in order to maintain efficiency and quality results.”

PMP: “Emerging markets definitely expect tissue lines that can operate according to the philosophy of plug and play. It’s a trend to get lower media consumption solutions and our company will continue to implement new ideas in our TMs. Regarding turn key projects, we are ready to support customers in this area.”

Hergen: “Developments on machinery manufacture in the next decade will aim to create faster machines (over 2400 m/min.) with optimum runnability figures and low media consumption.”

A Celli: “Softness and accuracy in the humidity profile, as well as in basis weight, along with the lowest cost per tonne.”

Voith: “Machines that run at higher speeds, save natural resources and deliver better paper quality.”

PMT Italia: “We see more requests for larger tissue machines in China and Southeast Asia, so the trend there is to establish larger production lines and facilities to fight off competition with lower cost per tonne. In other almost saturated markets, we see the trend move towards smaller and flexible production lines together with being extremely streamlined in terms of process equipment. “Reducing cost will be a continuous driving force for grades in highly competitive sectors, whereas for the high quality grades, competition will start to come from the nonwoven manufacturers.”