Case Studies

Pulp & Paper

Case Studies:

Neutra Shield saves tissue mill $945,000 annually by fiber savings, downtime reduction, and eliminating land filling

Opportunity

A machine producing 90 tons/day of towel grades was experiencing stickies contamination on the wire. These stickies caused sheet holes and periodically caused a high rate of sheet breaks. The source of stickies was from broke.

To manage the stickies, the broke fiber coming to the machine had to be kept at 15% or less. The excess broke had to be landfilled or used at a higher ratio in the furnish. Unfortunately, when the broke was increased to 20% the machine could only run for six to eight hours before the wire became covered in stickies and related contaminants. The usual loss of production was three to four hours. This required the machine to shut down and clean the wire with a 100% VOC solvent. By using the solvent, the mill was approaching its environmental limit.

The DuBois Solution

DuBois implemented a new strategy for wire treatment, using Neutra Shield. Neutra Shield is a nonionic polymer that adsorbs onto the wire and creates a protective layer that repels stickies and other deposits. Unlike traditional cationic barrier treatments, no anionic trash layer builds up on the fabric. This means that drainage is not affected and the wire does not require stripping.

Neutra Shield was added to the sheet side of the wire at a low concentration.

Results and Benefits

The results of the program were impressive:

• Broke usage was doubled from 15 to 30% with a project value of $945,000
• Sheet breaks from contamination no longer occur
• Downtime due to breaks and wire washing has been eliminated
• Usage of high VOC cleaner due to stickies contamination has been eliminated

The need to landfill broke has been eliminated.