Core board out of dry waste through a process developed by Metso Paper

Published Oct 1, 2003 15.00.00 +2 GMT

Metso Paper has developed a concept for getting raw material for core board manufacturing out of dry waste. The process is in pilot use at Ahlstrom's Core Board Mill in Karhula, Finland. The first commercial unit will be built for Vapo in Jyväskylä, Finland.

Through the process developed by Metso Paper it is possible to exploit the raw material potential in various paper-containing waste flows so that the fibers can be employed in paper and board production and the rest mainly as fuel. Thanks to the method, approx. 80 per cent of the paper and board contained in dry waste material can be recovered and reused for core board manufacturing. Today, annually some 20-25 millions tons of recyclable paper products end up in incineration or landfills in Western Europe (Source: CEPI 2001).

It has been possible to demonstrate the main idea of the method, i.e. fiber recovering from dry waste, in the pilot unit which was started up at Ahlstrom's Core Board Mill in Karhula, Finland, in June 2003. The feeding capacity of the unit, 4 tons of presorted dry waste per hour, is significant. In continous operation it would correspond to the dry waste amount produced by a 100,000 person community. In addition, fiber recovery also enables further processing of the plastics contained in the waste for material recycling.

Metso Paper's pilot unit can be moved from one place to another. By transferring the process close to the customers Metso can demonstrate the efficiency of the concept using real, locally available raw materials.

This autumn Vapo Oy has published their preliminary plan to build a unit according to their Wastech concept to Mustankorkea waste treatment plant in Jyväskylä, Finland. The investment plan also includes a fiber recovering unit. In case of the Karhula pilot unit, Vapo is responsible for supplying the presorted raw material with the purpose of getting customers to their future fiber product.

The Vapo Wastech concept for presorting of dry waste is based on efficient material recycling as well as energy utilization. This method corresponds to the targets of EU's waste hierarchy, creates economic value and improves the employment.

Metso Corporation is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems. The Corporation's fiber and paper technology business area, Metso Paper, is the world's leading supplier of technology, systems and equipment for the pulp and paper industries. Metso's other core businesses are divided between Metso Minerals (rock and mineral processing) and Metso Automation (automation and control technology). In 2002, the net sales of Metso Corporation were EUR 4.7 billion and the personnel totaled approximately 28,500. Metso Corporation is listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges.

More information: Teuvo Kemppinen, Production Line Manager, Ahlstrom Cores Oy tel. +358 5 224 2444, +358 50 526 1402 Hannu Korpi, Project Manager, Metso Paper Inc. tel. +358 20 482 9499, +358 40 558 1729 Kari Mutka, Development Manager, Vapo Oy tel. +358 14 623 5613, +358 400 344 964