June 2021
ProJet (www.pro-jet.nl) received an order for 2 new high pressure belt cleaners from Tolko, Slave Lake, AB, Canada. The value of the order will not be disclosed and the equipment is scheduled to be delivered in July, 2021 and installation & start-up in Q4, 2021.
Tolko is a wood converting company producing lumber, wood chips OSB and plywood.
Tolko’s mill in Slave Lake, AB, Canada
The mill in Slave Lake, AB mainly produces plywood on a continuous manufacturing line, where woodchips, mixed with glue, are pressed between 2 belts, eventually forming the plywood. The glue and the woodchips contaminate the belts, which could lead to quality issues in the end-product.
Contamination on the belts
Therefore, the belts need to be cleaned continuously. Because of the high load of contamination and relatively slow production speed, the belts need to be cleaned full width. Tolko selected ProJet because of the unique references that ProJet already had at other wood manufacturing lines around the world, and being the only vendor in the world to supply belt cleaning systems, that have rotating nozzles at such a high pressure (typically 350bar/5,00psi); the Eco4000-system.
ProJet’s unique Eco400 system
The Eco4000 system uses 16 rotating nozzle heads that oscillate to avoid creating cleaning patterns, i.e. guaranteeing a uniform cleaning over the full width of the belt. There will be 1 system for the Top belt and 1 for the Bottom belt.
Furthermore, the Eco4000 delivers the following operational and performance benefits:
- Substantial cleaning water savings (= operational cost reduction + improved profitability): the Eco4000 provides superior cleaning performance, while only consuming 10.0gpm (40.0 liter/min) of water. A conventional oscillating shower consumes over 100.0gpm of water, leading to substantial more electrical power and waste water treatment costs.
- Water mist elimination is achieved by the application of air knives that contain water mist and contamination, which is discharged through Venturi tubes and finally into a save all pan.
- Targeted cleaning enables an operator to control the Cleaner for not only overall CD fabric/felt cleaning but to also apply targeted zone/strip or edge cleaning.
The Eco4000 cleans the Belts continuously, 24 hours a day, as long as the machine is running. Older technologies are operated in batch cleaning mode, allowing the belts to get dirty first, losing permeability, and then trying to restore that permeability again. This leads to uneven permeability profiles over time, mostly leading to quality issues.
ROI calculator:
ProJet understands that each client application and each manufacturing process is unique. For that reason, ProJet developed an automated ROI-calculator that will be applied to each application and produced paper grade. By contacting info@projetinc.us or info@pro-jet.nl ProJet will perform a no-charge ROI calculation of any belt cleaning application. After inputting the process parameters provided by customers, they will be provided with a ROI-Analysis of each specific application and investment justification.
ProJet Technologies, www.pro-jet.nl and www.projetinc.us