Mayr-Melnhof BM 3 Rebuild at Frohnleiten, Austria, Achieving Goals

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Mayr-Melnhof, Germany, has successfully restarted its board machine (BM 3) in Frohnleiten, Austria, following a rebuild by Voith Paper, Germany. At startup, production was changed from air knife operation to curtain coating and, since then, the DF Coat-S has been in operation. The goal for the rebuild was to remove the speed limitation caused by the air knife.

With this rebuild, Mayr-Melnhof is now operating the world's first board machine using curtain coating for online graphic coat application on a continuous basis. BM 3 started at 550 m/min and a basis weight of 250 g/m². The board produced was of superior, salable quality right from the first parent roll, the mill reports.

All project targets were met from startup, resulting in a higher quality board due to improved and homogeneous coverage, while the amount of energy used for drying is reduced considerably due to the much higher solids content. In addition, enhanced flatness is improving runnability and boosting productivity of the machine, thus allowing the previous speed limit to be overcome.

Martin Mühlhauser, technical director of Mayr-Melnhof's Board Division, reports that "we are very pleased with the quality. The project was realized without any troubles and absolutely on time, and cooperation with Voith Paper was professional and fair. The curtain coater has fulfilled our expectations. For us, it was the right decision."