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High precision VIB AirTechPlus 6 water moisturization system in Optiload twinline
in Kvarnsveden PM 12

2. PILOT TESTING OF VIB AirTechPlus 6 EQUIPMENT

Testing of VIB AirTechPlus 6 water spray technology for Kvarnsveden PM 12 project was done both in CTC Research center and in Metso Paper Jδrvenpδδ pilot facilities. The lay-out of CTC research calender is shown in figure 3. In the off-machine OptiLoad TwinLine concept, the bottom side of base paper is moistened before calender and the top side of the paper is moistened between the two calender stacks.

Layout of VIB AirTechPlus 6 fine spray application in CTC research OptiLoad calender
Figure 3. Lay-out of VIB AirTechPlus 6 fine spray application in CTC research OptiLoad calender

In CTC the main focus of the work was related to the achieved benefits on paper quality and in printability. In Jδrvenpδδ the focus was on improvements on spray quality with all new details, found by carefully analyzing past projects.

The spray moistening gives a large process window to find the optimum combination of paper properties.

Based on pilot results best achievable paper gloss and PPS of a SC base paper with correct final moisture level (5.5%) and with tolerable blackening (<55%). With the moistening technology 5 – 15 % units of paper gloss and 0.08 – 0.14 µm of PPS roughness can be achieved compared to traditional SC calendering without moistening. These results agree well with earlier experiences on SC calendering [3 - 5].

The spray moistening was fine tuned based on the experiences learned from past projects. A clear target to reduce CD moisture variation to half from previous installations was set and achieved on pilot machines (Fig. 4). On-line VIB AirTechPlus 6 spray moistening gave the same moisture variation level at 8 – 12 % moisture content, which is normally obtained by over drying to 3 % moisture content in paper machine.

The same low target CD variation level was set for production scale moisturization in Kvarnsveden PM 12.

2-sigma variation of high resolution moisture profile after VIB AirTechPlus 6 spray moistening of SC base paper at 4 % moisture content.
Figure 4. 2-sigma variation of high resolution moisture profile after VIB AirTechPlus 6 spray moistening of SC base paper at 4 % moisture content.

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