According to Toscotec Sales Director, Mr. Marco Dalle Piagge, for many years now, Toscotec has always been focusing on the research and development work related to tissue machine’s energy reduction and efficiency increase. In previous years, Toscotec mainly focused on the drying section and developed leading innovations with numerous references across the globe, such as its steel Yankee dryer TT SYD, steam-heated hoods, various press configuration including its shoe press technology TT NextPress and its jumbo press TT SPR 1425 with diameter 1425 mm. In 2018, Toscotec introduced two innovations positioned outside of the drying area of the tissue machine: a new crescent former concept in the forming area and the Core Assist Drive in the pope reel section.

Toscotec’s new crescent former concept allows for an increase in water removal in the forming section, reducing the water content carried to the press area, thereby cutting on the drying burden of the press and drying sections. At the same time, it makes it possible to decrease the nip pressure between the press and the Yankee, allowing for higher bulk and higher quality of the final product and reducing the machine energy consumption by 10% to 20%.

Toscotec’s Core Assist Drive technology, by effectively reducing the nip pressure between the pope drum and the reel spool, better preserves paper bulk during winding, and increases the quality of the final product. This technology is about to enter its commercial operations, and the first tissue machine with this application in the Chinese market will start up in the summer, while in the European and the US markets other 4 machines are currently undergoing erection.

The detailed information of these two technological innovations will be released in June, during It’s Tissue 2018, in Italy.

In addition, Mr. Dalle Piagge also offered the latest update on the world's first AHEAD-2.0L PRODERGY crescent former tissue machine, fired up in early 2018.

This machine has a width of 5,600 mm, a design speed of 2,100 m/min and it is currently undergoing a testing phase. It is expected to reach the operating speed of 2,000 m/min in the following weeks. Among a few specific conditions, it is worth highlighting that the steam pressure available on site is quite low, and the mill uses wet pulp coming directly from the nearby pulp mill, as raw material. Both of these conditions undoubtedly pose great challenges to the drying capacity of the tissue machine.

Based on the actual conditions of the user’s production base, Toscotec increased the size of the steel Yankee, thereby improving its drying capacity, installed a TT SYD of second generation with diameter 22 feet, and a steam-heated hood system with numerous stages of energy recovery. This has significantly cut the mill’s production costs, in comparison with gas-fired hoods, and it will achieve the objective of high speed with low consumption.

As we have learned, this tissue machine is the first of eight AHEAD-2.0L PRODERGY tissue machines sold by Toscotec, the other seven machines of the same model will successively start up in the upcoming months.

By Tissue Paper & Disposable Products, June 2018.