ProJet received an order for 3 Power Cleaners (dryer fabric cleaners) from Port Townsend Paper, Pt. Townsend, Washington state, USA for their Paper Machine # 1. The order was received in May 2022 and the value of the order will not be disclosed. The Cleaners will be installed on the 1st Unirun and 2nd Dryer Section Top & Bottom.
PM1 is a 256” wide machine that produces Medium Board (15-42# at 2,500fpm), using 50-100% OCC. OCC is known for its extreme contamination on the 1st and 2nd Dryer Sections. The Power Cleaner is highly effective in maintaining cleanliness and permeability of Dryer Fabrics which is exactly the reason that Greif chose ProJet. The equipment is scheduled to be delivered in Q4, 2022 and installation & start-up in later in 2022.
The Power Cleaner cleans the Dryer Fabrics continuously, 24 hours a day, as long as the machine is running. Older technologies are operated in batch cleaning mode, allowing the dryer fabrics to get dirty first, losing permeability, and then trying to restore that permeability again. This leads to uneven permeability profiles over time, mostly leading to paper quality issues and more broke. The above graph shows the advantage of continuous cleaning, leading to a more stable moisture profile, less broke and longer lifetime of fabrics. Dryer fabric contamination is on the rise due to the increasing use of secondary fibers, recycling of coated broke, increasing use of sheet fillers, an increased use of recycled mill water supplies, and the increased use of process chemicals.
The Power Cleaner uses a single traversing head that cover the fabrics using up to 14 ruby nozzles at a pressure of maximum 500 bar (7,500psi). Air knives and a Venturi-vacuum-system make sure all water and debris is effectively discharged into a save-all and from there, outside the machine. A clean dryer fabric, with consistently high air permeability, delivers important productivity and performance advantages for dryer section applications. The desired end result, of a clean dryer fabric, is a substantial improvement in available dryer capacity. ProJet’s innovative cleaning system is being applied successfully to very low basis weight product as well has heavy weight paper board applications.
Applying a ProJet Cleaning Solution guarantees consistently clean dryer fabrics from beginning to end of usable dryer fabric life. Consistently clean fabrics deliver the following significant manufacturing advantages:
·No chemical cleaning will be required to maintain fabric cleanliness.
·No shutdowns will be required for fabric cleaning. This will provide increased manufacturing productivity and profitability.
·Maintaining consistently high dryer fabric air permeability increases available dryer capacity.
·Better CD moisture profiles will be maintained.
·Sheet curling, caused by uneven drying, will be eliminated.
·Dryer fabric life will be substantially improved.
·Much less contamination will be deposited on dryers, doctor blades, and felt rolls.