48 | Sector Focus: Panel Products
◄ incorporating four wet process board lines, two dry process lines, two lines for flexible mat products and a line for wood fibre air- injected insulation. Also in Poland, at Czarna Woda, there are four wet process production lines (one under construction) and in Gromadka, Poland there are two flexible mat lines and one dry process manufacturing line. In France, at Casteljaloux near Bordeaux, a dry process line has recently been constructed and there are two existing flexible matt lines.
The company says it is operating in a
market environment that is experiencing a “phase of normalisation” after booming demand for around two years. “Wood-fibre insulation materials are now again enjoying short-term availability, which is why dealers and processing companies are returning their stocks to normal levels,” it said. “This development also characterised the fourth quarter of 2022. The winter season in the record-breaking year 2021 was extraordinarily strong, however, customer ordering behaviour in the winter of 2022/2023 got back to normal, with inventory levels falling.”
Steico used the winter months again to replenish its own inventories in order to be well equipped for the coming construction season.
Despite increased challenges from high inflation, increased interest rates and more intense competition, the company’s management is taking a positive view of 2023.
The company’s management is still convinced that demand for ecological construction materials will continue to enjoy dynamic growth and is aiming for its revenues to grow to around €750m by 2026.
NEW CAPACITY
The positive view appears to be shared by Gutex, the German based producer, which was the first company in Europe to manufacture
insulation boards from wood fibre back in 1932.
Gutex was also the first manufacturer in the world to produce single-ply homogeneous wood fibreboard insulation using a dry process with Siempelkamp equipment in 2006.
The company’s current mill is in Gutenburg in the Black Forest, with the company’s annual production at around 1 million m3
.
Its plans for a new plant at Eschbach near Freiburg have been progressing, with the original schedule for a start-up in the second quarter of 2023 and commercial production envisaged before the end of the year. The plant on the Breisgau industrial park is intended to be a CO2
have a 30,500m2
-neutral facility and will floor area, using regional
softwood in production.
Gutex is investing more than €100m in the project, with 60 new jobs created and double that when it reaches full production. The dry process plant is to be operated in three shifts all year round and the drying plant has a production capacity of up to 4,800m3 per day.
The raw density of the wood fibre insulation boards is between approximately 100kg/m3 and 190kg/m3, depending on the area of application.
Gutex said the investment would help to meet growing demand from builders who want to insulate their buildings in a healthy and sustainable way.
The Eschbach site was chosen for the possibility of realising a CO2
-neutral energy
supply, good infrastructure and high availability of wood in the surrounding Black Forest and in the Vosges. Photovoltaics will generate green electricity and a biomass plant is to supply process steam and heat. Additional process heat is obtained from the neighbouring waste incineration plant. The direct motorway and industrial rail connection, the central location in the border triangle Germany-Switzerland-France and
the proximity to the main plant in Gutenburg also had a positive effect.
Andritz is one of the technology suppliers involved in the project, supplying a fibre preparation system.
The scope of supply comprises a complete fibre preparation line, including a debarking and chipping line as well as the steel structure, piping material and installation work. Technical aspects include wood processing technology for receiving of logs, an Andritz RotaBarker debarking system, a horizontally fed HHQ-Chipper, a fully automatic chip storage system with reclaiming and screening equipment; a high-consistency (HC) refiner ensuring a constant refining gap that is essential to obtain high fibre quality and low specific energy consumption; and a steam recovery system (SRS) for efficient recovery of surplus steam and greater thermal efficiency of the fibre preparation system. Michael Rupp, vice-president for
Panelboard Systems at the Andritz Paper, Fibre and Recycling Division, said the company was delighted to have the opportunity to install its complete front-end technology at Gutex’s new plant. Meanwhile, Ziegler Group has started its new wood fibre insulation board mill less than a year after construction was started. The investment, based on Dieffenbacher technology, produced its first board in Grafenwöhr on August 30, 2022. The line produces rigid wood fibre insulation boards. Production is designed for 500,000m3 fixed and 1.5 million m3
of of flexible panels
per year, as well as 20,000 tons of blow-in insulation.
Despite a change of location at short notice from Bärnau, 50km west, to Grafenwöhr, construction of the new plant began just five months after Dieffenbacher received the order. Dieffenbacher’s scope of supply for the complete plant included a fibre dryer, EVOjet M 2.0 gluing system, the forming station and
Above left: Gutex roof sarking application Above right: Dieffenbacher equipment at Ziegler’s new wood fibre insulation board plant TTJ | May/June 2023 |
www.ttjonline.com
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