The August Koehler SE paper mill has awarded Voith the order for a new production line for machine-glazed specialty papers. Line 8 is to be installed at the company's Kehl facility and consists of a BlueLine stock preparation unit, wet end process, XcelLine paper machine, offline coating machine and VariPlus winder. Designed for up to 120,000 metric tons per year, Line 8 will produce a flexible range of thermal papers and flexible packaging papers and will therefore be one of the most efficient specialty paper machines in the world when it goes into operation from the summer of 2019.
The priorities for the German specialty paper manufacturer were the flexible production of various qualities of thermal and packaging papers combined with high machine efficiency and quality over the entire basis weight range. In addition, the machine needed to be particularly energy efficient, i.e. use less power, water and steam. XcelLine meets both these criteria thanks to its perfectly matched components.
The chosen paper machine concept combines the latest Voith technology for headbox, former and press section to guarantee optimum CD profiles, excellent fiber orientation with ideal dewatering capacity, and high efficiency.
The centerpiece of the dryer section will be a welded Yankee cylinder with a diameter of more than 7,000 mm. This equipment does a great deal to achieve the premium qualities necessary to satisfy the stringent quality requirements of August Koehler. For further finishing, there are different coaters and a soft-nip calender in the paper machine.
The multi-layer coating for differentiating the premium paper qualities is realized with the offline coating machine SM 8, which is fitted with ultramodern coating equipment and offers non-contacting, gentle drying with high thermal efficiency. The final smoothing of the specialty papers is done using an innovative calendaring concept with downstream Sirius reel. In addition, Voith will supply the basic and detail engineering for Line 8.
