22 ANDRITZ
Increasing the value of bark as fuel
A new-generation bark press is delivering higher dry solids and is more efficient to operate and maintain. PPL reports
J
ust because a bark press is not critical to the operation of a pulp mill, it does not mean
that it should be overlooked. “We find our customers in very
competitive situations today,” says Hannu Silventoinen, director of marketing and sales at Andritz Fiber Technologies. “A percentage gain here and half a percentage point there can have a big impact on the profitability of a mill.” Ari Hannimäki, director of R&D and process at Andritz Fiber Technologies, adds: “To the Andritz wood processing team, the pursuit of these small and large gains is what fuels product development.” Mechanical erection has already begun for four HQ-Press units sold to Metsä Group’s new bio-products mill at Äänekoski. While being a dynamic and progressive producer of bio-products and bio-energy, Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, is not exactly known for taking huge technical risks. So, there must be something solid behind this new product.
An important side stream “It is a cornerstone of the Äänekoski bioproducts mill project to be carbon-free,” says Timo Merikallio, project director for Metsä Fibre. The mill will be built alongside the existing Äänekoski mill, sharing some of the infrastructure. Design capacity is 1.3 million tonnes of bleached pulp. “Our plan is not only to produce high-quality pulp, but also to
September/October 2017
create a platform for using all the production side streams: biomaterials, bioenergy, and biochemicals. We anticipate that 100 per cent of the raw material will be converted to saleable products or energy.” Even though it is a side
stream, bark plays an important role. About 60 per cent of the bark processed on-site will be consumed as fuel in the lime kiln (gasified) as a substitute for fossil fuels. According to Merikallio, about 40
per cent will be sold: “Obviously, the more dry we can make the bark without incurring too high energy cost, the better the sales will be.”
Create happy customers The HQ-Press does several things extremely well, says Andritz, the most important being that it dries bark better than anything on the market using mechanical pressing techniques to conserve thermal energy. But dryness is only one issue. “We had one of the older EcoPress units on our existing line at Äänekoski,” Merikallio says. “Quite frankly it was a disappointment. It was not robust enough and needed too much maintenance
attention. As a result of that, it was replaced after a fairly short period of time.” The EcoPress was a bark press design that evolved from Enso to Ahlstrom to Kone Wood to Andritz. Silventoinen estimates there are about 100 units sold, which gave Andritz the basis of experience in this segment of the industry. “Many of them operate quite well,” he says. “But there are also installations, such as at Äänekoski, where the maintenance is way too intensive and customers are not thrilled.” Because of this, Andritz
withdrew from the bark press market and began offering the equipment from the leading bark press manufacturer, also based in Finland. Customers still were not happy with the maintenance intervals, the frequent replacement of the screen drum at a very high cost, and the difficulty in keeping the press in continuous operation. “We saw this as a market
Pulp Paper & Logistics
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