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AriKleen Felt Wash Increases Felt Life At Recycled Paperboard Mill

After changing recycled furnish to include newsprint, a paperboard mill began experiencing significant
difficulty in keeping its press felts clean and open. Speed on the machine was impacted and felt life
decreased. Picking and sheet breaks were more common and downtime increased. The more frequent felt
changes increased manufacturing costs and further increased downtime. The incumbent supplier was
asked for help. Their response time was slow and solutions were not forthcoming. The mill personnel
actually took up the charge and asked to use a different chemistry. The current chemical delivery system could not accommodate the new chemistry and no changes were offered.

Aries was asked to help improve machine runnability, increase felt life, and provide a chemical
delivery system that could safely and accurately dispense multiple products to address the new soil
matrix that was impeding drainage of the felts. Aries performed a series of felt permeability scans,
felt analysis and cleaning studies to understand the paper machine’s problems. Aries’ analysis and
experience developing comprehensive paper machine cleaning programs found several interrelated
problems. Based upon the problems’ sources Aries recommended an improved cleaning program.

Aries recommended an “on the fly” batch wash program utilizing two different AriKleen felt cleaners
specifically designed for the complex deposits now seen by the felts. Both alkaline and acid AriKleen
felt cleaners were designed to remove deposits caused by AKD, wet strength, dry strengths, clay,
calcium carbonate and other recycled fiber contaminants. Both cleaners are FDA compliant. These
specially designed materials eliminated picking and downtime due to felt contamination, and increased
the felt life from 3-4 weeks to 6-7 weeks while keeping up machine speed.

PLC based feed system

Aries provided a PLC based cleaner feed system that controlled both cleaner applications. The cleaner feed system allowed plant personnel to adjust the cleaning program to optimize performance.

For further information on AriKleen and other chemicals for the paper and pulp industry, contact your Aries Chemical Representative or the Beaver Falls office at (315) 346-1489. Also view a printable version of this Batch Wash Program Case Study.