Mist & contaminants be gone at SAICA Champblain by Kadant/M-clean

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1. Extracting stickies out of the MAP improves the surface condition of the sheet. To achieve the highest performance it’s essential to get the angles of the nozzles just right.

Mist & contaminants be gone at SAICA Champblain. But how?

Article by Kadant / M-clean

SAICA Champblain, France, has achieved a forming section breakthrough-mist elimination and fewer showers at the wet end made possible with the Kadant M-clean™ system. Combined with M-clean units to remove contaminants from dryer fabrics, SAICA now enjoys major water and energy savings, as well as greater ease to increase productivity.

According to Pierre Henri Brouty, project engineer and innovations team leader with SAICA Champblain, “Removing forward showers from our Bel Baie Sup MAP 60 forming section allows us to sharply reduce habitual mist. With this M-clean unit we use only 7 m3/day of water, compared to 500 m3/day for this task. We start up in 3-4 hours less time.”

Brouty notes that their pioneering effort at the forming section is a natural progression from the cleanliness already achieved with M-clean units at the dryer sections of both paper machines, where runnability is up. Adds Brouty, “Better work conditions and safety are important gains for mill operators and workers. The value of eliminating mist at the wet end cannot be under estimated.”

FORMING CLEANLINESS — HOW IT HAPPENS

The M-clean unit traverses the forming section, using high-pressure water in combination with a robust evacuation and air knife system. By cleaning on top and underneath, this opens the pores of the forming fabric. Contaminants and water are then separated in a cyclone. Says Ludovic Veyre, applications engineer with Kadant Lamort, “SAICA’s forming section innovation is a major technological breakthrough for the papermaking process. The extraction of contaminants for a 8,700 mm fabric width wit-

“Pioneering efforts at the forming section with M-clean is paying off. Major reductions in water consumption and improved safety happen because of elimination of showers mportant gains in efficienc and sustainability result.” Pierre-Henri Brouty, SAICA Champblain

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2. Increased life of sheet rolls happens because of on-going removal of contaminants.

hout the traditional fog is noteworthy. Saving so much fresh water compared with conventional systems on this position matters a lot to them.” Adds Veyre, “SAICA Champblain was bold. This transformation was like changing to an electric car. Add to this the strange fact that understanding the mist allowed operators to know the system was working. Avoiding breaks without fog was not immediately easy!”

CONTAMINANTS REMOVED IN DRYING

In fact, M-clean for the dryer section has become a de facto standard at SAICA. The Saica Group already uses 43 M-clean units across their mills in Europe, contributing to productivity optimization, increased energy performance and improved process efficiency. Keeping the paper machines clean is a constant issue at SAICA in Champblain, where 100% recycled furnish is varied. Considering the 1,500 mpm or greater speed of their paper machines, represents an ongoing challenge.

As Robin Moritz, sales director for Kadant Nordic suggests, “M-clean installed at dryer sections has allowed the SAICA team to ramp up quality and

3. Kadant’s Robin Moritz (left) and SAICA Champblain’s Pierre

Henri Brouty beneath the dryer section of MAP 50. M-clean units at the dryer section are achieving major contaminant and stickies reduction at SAICA Champblain. Productivity is up, maintenance is reduced and the workplace is safer. 4. SAICA Champblain is located just beside France’s famous St.

Joseph vineyards, and lives side- by-side, because of a strong sustainability commitment. 5. The 1000th M-clean on the Bel Baie forming section for MAP 60, delivers rapid pay-back, based upon higher productivity.

Eliminating the forward showers on their Bel Baie forming section takes them “out of the mist.” 6. SAICA Champblain has achieved a high level of cleanliness and major water consumption reduction because of their pioneering efforts at the wet end of MAP 60.

productivity on a continuous basis. Because they are runnin so clean, they had the confidence to try this approach at the forming section. Forming fabrics are more sensitive than dryer fabrics, so this required numerous pre-testing trials in Sweden on our trial machine. This effort allowed for a plug and play installation at SAICA Champblain.”

CLEANER DRYER SECTION, THE STARTING POINT

Over the past several years SAICA Champblain has systematically improved dryer section performance through better control of stickies, gaining uniformity with sheet properties, while saving energy. Installation of M-clean units has played an important role in high cleaning efficiency, resulting in better energy performance of their MAP 50 - MAP 60 machines.

WHAT’S NEXT AT SAICA CHAMPBLAIN?

“Pioneering is our way of being. We like the challenges from innovation, especially when we make sustainability and productivity gains. And it’s fun,” concludes Brouty.