Toscotec-Rebuilt Hoods Yield Double-digit Consumption Reduction at Wepa Giershagen

Wepa Group is one of the largest tissue manufacturers in Europe, with 13 sites, 21 paper machines, a production of approximately 780,000 mtpy and a positive annual growth trend. Since 2002, Toscotec and Wepa’s cooperation has been particularly strong at Wepa Marsberg-Giershagen, where Toscotec supplied a new tissue line on a turnkey basis, completely rebuilt PM 5 in two different steps and installed new hoods on other two existing machines, with the result that all tissue machines at the mill are now equipped with TT hoods.

Consumption reduction and a speed increase: In order to evaluate the return on the investment, it is always interesting to compare the efficiency of the equipment – consumption and performance - before and after the rebuild. This comparison is particularly clear if one looks at PM 4 and PM 7, where the modification involved only the hoods and the air system. After the installation of TT Hood on PM 4, the mill achieved a 12.5 percent reduction in gas consumption and a 50-m/min increase in machine speed. The results on PM 7 were similar, with a 13.3 percent reduction in gas consumption and a 50 m/min increase in speed.

In general terms, for a tissue machine that produces 30,000 mtpy with a thermal consumption of 1.3MWh/t, a 10 percent savings in drying energy equals a cost reduction of approximately 4 €/t, i.e. 120,000 €/y. Additional savings coming from electrical load reduction and machine speed increase must also be considered. These figures offer a clear picture of the potential benefits coming from the use of fully updated equipment including state-of-the-art devices dedicated to:

At WEPA Giershagen, Toscotec calculated the best combination of the open area, hole diameter, and hole pattern to achieve top performance and efficiency. TT Hoods are designed and manufactured at Toscotec’s headquarters in Lucca, where its engineers and workers have more than 20 years of experience in hoods and air systems. This expertise guarantees the reliability and the constant improvement of their design and performances.

Finally, timing is always essential in rebuild activities. Wepa Giershagen required Toscotec to schedule every phase of the project, allocating the right resources and time, in order to guarantee an accurate paper-to-paper machine shutdown period. On Wepa Giershagen PM 7 for example, the scheduled paper-to-paper shutdown was of 360 hours. The entire work was completed and tested in only 332 hours, i.e. 28 hours ahead of schedule.

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