Focus on Germany Part 2: Elka | 17
sawmill go to our particleboard production.” The most important factor in the location
of Elka’s factories is the availability of raw material from local forests. “We guarantee that our fresh wood – spruce and Douglas fir – comes from within a 150km radius of the factory in Morbach,” said Ms Kuntz. Elka first entered the particleboard
market in 1959. Up until then, it had enjoyed a lucrative business in pit timbers but that dried up and the company needed a new source of revenue, so particleboard was chosen and today utilises 100% spruce wood. In 1990, a single-daylight press from Dieffenbacher was installed at Morbach and this is still in use, although the maximum width of 2.1m is not ideal, admitted Ms Kuntz. “We are very happy with the Dieffenbacher press, but we really need a 2.6m width for our construction panel market and we would like to replace it with a continuous one. At the moment we supply TG4 panels which can be joined to make larger panels. “We have thus initiated an investment programme to upgrade our particleboard production in several phases over the coming years. The first phase is a new €15m screening and gluing line and that is already installed and nearing start-up.” IMAL was chosen as the supplier of the new screening and gluing line. Its scope of supply included the new screening and resin application system as well as a chemical components storage and dosing system. Approximately 100 truckloads of machine parts, with a total weight of over 800 tons, were delivered for the project, says IMAL. In addition, there are around 400 tons of steel construction and over 35km of electrical cables. Around 50 fitters worked on the assembly at the same time. The aim of the investment is efficient screening and gluing of the sawdust and wood chips produced in the company’s own sawmill. This will save up to 5,000 tons of CO2
, says IMAL.
In a further investment step, energy generation and chip drying are to be completely renovated in 2026/27. The new supply integrates with the existing plant, with the aim of reducing the consumption of chemical components
used in the process and the output of CO2 from the process, in line with Elka’s strong sustainability ethos. The scope of supply from IMAL was divided into the following functional areas: 1. Storage of dried raw material and related particle size selection. In this phase, the material coming from the dryer is stored in a silo then sent to the screening machines, whose purpose is to divide it into different particle size fractions to be used in the various layers that make up the panel (in Elka’s case this is two layers: core and surface).
Top: In the cutting centre, wood construction panels are divided according to customer requirements and prepared for transport Above: The aerial photo shows the foundation work of the new screening and gluing system, which is the first expansion stage of the new chip production
2. Resin application. This consists of two bunkers (core layer and surface layer), with dosing units and scales to deliver the correct quantity of material to the resin applicators. Inside the resin applicators, mixing occurs between the raw material and chemical components. In addition to the aforementioned bunkers, IMAL has also provided an air suction and filtration system with a bag filter. Also, for technological reasons, the resin applicators require a cooling system, which has also been supplied by IMAL.
3. Transfer, storage and dosing of chemical components. Here, IMAL’s scope of supply included transfer systems from haulage
trucks; storage tanks and related transfer pumps; dosing boxes and related pumps; and a high-pressure injection system designed to achieve optimal atomisation of the chemical components used. Once resin-coated, the material is transferred to the existing forming machines via tubular conveyors.
IMAL says that the project was designed with three key requirements of Elka in mind. The first of these was reduction of glue consumption, with glue savings being ensured through the installation of the high- pressure glue injection system, Hi-Jet, which IMAL, says is a well-established solution,
www.wbpionline.com | February/March 2025 | WBPI
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