Graphic Packaging awards order for Dryer Fabric Cleaners to ProJet
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ProJet received an order for yet another Power Cleaner (dryer fabric cleaners) from Graphic Packaging. The order was received in October 2021 and the value of the order will not be disclosed.
Graphic Packaging and ProJet have a long-term relationship; ProJet has been supplying all of Graphic’s High Pressure Showers for their plants in Kalamazoo, MI and Middletown, OH. The Kalamazoo-mill has a total of 6 ProJet Cleaners on their Forming Fabrics and Dryer Felts. The Middletown mill had 2 and is now adding another one. Graphic and ProJet have a Service Agreement, so a ProJet Technician is in the mills every 3-6 months to perform preventative maintenance.
The Middletown mill produces Medium Board (23-33# at 2,500fpm), using 100% OCC. OCC is known for its extreme contamination on the 1st and 2nd Dryer Sections. The Power Cleaner is highly effective in maintaining cleanliness and permeability of Dryer Fabrics which is exactly the reason that Graphic relies ProJet Cleaners to keep their machines running. The equipment is scheduled to be delivered in early 2022 and installation & start-up in later in 2022.
The new Cleaners will be equipped with ProJet’s Power Cleaner 2.0. The “2.0” head is equipped with multiple nozzles for continuous cleaning and enhanced cleaning during sheet breaks, the “Shock Cleaning Mode”. Cleaning water and contamination is effectively evacuated by a vacuum system.
The Power Cleaner cleans the Dryer Fabrics continuously, 24 hours a day, as long as the machine is running. Older technologies are operated in batch cleaning mode, allowing the dryer fabrics 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 paper quality issues and more broke. The above graph shows the advantage of continuous cleaning, leading to a more stable moisture profile, less broke and longer lifetime of fabrics. Dryer fabric contamination is on the rise due to the increasing use of secondary fibers, recycling of coated broke, increasing use of sheet fillers, an increased use of recycled mill water supplies, and the increased use of process chemicals.
