Services

We offer our clients a wide range of services encompassing technical advice for the pulp and paper industry, trouble shooting and new product development.

Technical advice

Recipe recommendation

Cost optimisation

Change of assortment

Independent advice

Technical advice

It goes without saying that a paper machine is a highly sophisticated machine. Every paper machine is unique. Papermakers have to constantly perform a balancing act between achieving performance KPIs and focusing on customer quality requirements. We aim to increase efficiency and performance of your paper machine as it is today while maintaining quality standards. Do web breaks impact negatively your runability? Do you have the feeling that you are facing an impossible technical challenge? Is it difficult to achieve customer quality requirements? Or do you simply need a third opinion for an investment? We are here to help you work out the appropriate strategy to overcome your challenges.

Recipe recommendation

Our 20+ years of experience in research and development enable us to recommend formulations for existing product optimisations or new product developments. From the idea to industrialisation, we help you to meet the need of your customers.

Cost optimisation

Improving mill operating and cost efficiency is a part of a paper mill’s organisation daily work. From time to time, it is important to take a step back and review the current performance and the mill’s potential. Deflaking and refining diagnosis, raw material quality and flow review are performance improvement programs to improve earnings and competitiveness. Do you want to assess your mill’s potential? Please feel free to contact us.

Change of assortment

Do you need a partner to implement a new product on your existing paper machine? We are here for you! Due to the lack of orders in product segments such as newsprint and magazine papers, manufacturers are constantly challenged to develop alternative markets with new paper grades – all with the same equipment. Swiss Paper Consulting GmbH can, for example, convert your paper machine from magazine paper to packaging paper. Are you considering entering a new business area?

Independent advice

When investing in equipment, evaluating or defining paper specifications and properties, some customers are often unsure about the best possible option. Our neutral and independent opinion helps you make a good decision: we offer an expert opinion service for the paper industry.

Trading +

We know where in the world your products are demanded and help you to expand your customer portfolio. At the same time, we act as an intermediary between suppliers and customers in the pulp and paper industry.

Finishing

In the finishing department, the paper reel is prepared for the customer who expect following reel characteristics:

 

  • Even winding hardness profile
  • Even reel outer diameter profile
  • Dust-free and non-bonded roll end faces
  • Moisture wrinkle-free reel

Drying section

The focus of the dryer section is the thermal drying of the paper web, in which the water, which cannot be removed mechanically, is expelled by heat. The dry content increases up to 95 %. Depending on the paper machine, the drying of the paper can be designed for contact drying, convection drying or radiation drying. Thermal dewatering is more expensive than mechanical dewatering. It is therefore inevitable to adjust the input dry content into the dryer section as optimally as possible.

Film press

In modern paper machines, the coating of paper is done online. They are used for surface treatment and property improvement. The objectives of coating systems can be, among other things, to improve printability, haptics or gloss. If the coating process is not performed in the right way, this can lead to an uneven surface and surface defects.

Drying section

The focus of the dryer section lies in the thermal drying of the paper web, in which the water, which can no longer be removed mechanically, is driven out by heat. The dry content increases to up to 95%. Depending on the paper machine, the drying of the papers can be designed for contact drying, convection drying or radiation drying. Thermal drainage is more expensive than mechanical drainage. It is therefore inevitable that the dry content entering the dryer section should be set as optimally as possible.

Press section

Sheet formation and drainage in the wire section are followed by further mechanical drainage in the press section. Here, the dry content of the paper or board web is increased from about 20 % to about 50 %, depending on the product and the dewatering capacity of the wire section. The following advantages result from the pressing process:

  • Better and more stable web behaviour when passing through the dryer section
  • Strength increase of the wet paper web
  • Reduction of energy consumption in the dryer section
  • Higher production speed
  • Shortened drying times

The energy consumption of the press section in relation to the dryer section is about 5%. Mechanical pressing therefore requires significantly less energy than drying.

Forming section

The headbox is the first unit of a paper machine. Its main function is to distribute the mix evenly across the width of the wire section. During the forming process, the basic structure of the final paper produced is created. The driving forces for optimum sheet formation, cross and machine direction profiles are fibre orientation are:

 

  • Feeding of the suspension into the headbox (flow and pulsation)
  • Fibre and filler distribution in the cross machine direction
  • Wet sheet formation

Screening

In nearly all papermaking operations, at least one pressure screen is mandatory right before the head box. The inlet stock flow enters the upper part of the screen housing tangentially. Inside a fixed screen basket, the rotor rotates and its pressure pulsations ensure that the screen is kept free. At the same time the stock suspension is forced to flow downwards along the screen. The accepted stock passes the holes or slots of the screen basket. The rejects are sorted out by means of an overflow. By improving the screen baskets, introducing new rotors and housing corrections, the screening effect can be improved with lower specific energy consumption.

Cleaner

The main purpose of cleaning and screening is to ensure clean stock by removing bundles, flakes, foreign material from the stock suspension. The qualitative and economic optimum of the cleaning and screening depends on the design of the cleaner systems and on the selected screens procedure. Screens are often not discharging reject continuously in an effort to reduce the loss of fibres.

Stock chest

As the paper mill process involves treatment of stock in different consistencies, stock chests are an essential part of the process. Their main tasks are:

 

  • Storage of stock
  • Blending and mixing of various stock components, fillers and additives
  • Equalising variations in quality
  • Smoothening the flow variations in batch processes

Refiner

Refining of pulp is one of the most important unit operations of the stock preparation system. In refining, the properties of pulp fibres are modified so that the strength of the fibre network improves, the paper surface can be made smoother or the paper formation improves. Achieving specific paper properties by means of refining process control requires a comprehensive know-how and know-why of the development of the paper properties as a function of refining energy while keeping an eye on energy consumption. We perform refiner diagnosis to review the current refiner performance and determine energy saving potentials and paper properties optimisations.

Deflaker

For adequate disintegration of fibres a deflaker will treat a pumpable fibre slurry further so that fibre flakes, fibre bundles or separated but still dry and stiff fibres are disintegrated into individual, wetted and flexible fibres. A deflaker diagnosis can lead to cost and quality optimisation.

Stock chest

As the paper mill process involves treatment of stock in different consistencies, stock chests are an essential part of the process. Their main tasks are:

  • Storage of stock
  • Blending and mixing of various stock components, fillers and additives
  • Equalising variations in quality
  • Smoothening the flow variations in batch processes

Pulper

The first stage in the stock preparation after bale handling is slushing of the baled pulps in the pulper. Energy consumption for slushing has to be considered. The aim should be to achieve adequate disintegration of fibres. In the case of virgin pulp, the residual flake content should be as low as possible, whereas in the case of waste paper it is often not desirable to achieve a high degree of deflaking, since undesirable components such as plastic adhesives are easier to remove from the process in a subsequent process unit if there are not shredded.