The papermaker is faced with many challenges when trying to keep fabrics and roll covers clean. Contaminants are deposited and consequently forced into the void volume of fabrics, reducing permeability, creating holes in the sheet, and other runnability issues. In addition, deposits on roll surfaces cause picking or sheet marking. These deposits can come from the raw material (recycled fiber) and are often referred to as “stickies” or from the papermaking process including starch, coating paste, paper dust, oil, and grease. Traditional cleaning methods are often not capable of dealing effectively with such contaminants or are undesirable due to the large volume of water required. At Kadant’s research facility and pilot plant in Huskvarna, Sweden, ongoing studies are being conducted to better understand the challenges presented by contaminants and how those challenges can be addressed. Working closely with customers and fabric and chemical suppliers, Kadant is optimizing existing technologies and looking for new cleaning solutions.

The pilot plant is designed to allow fabric samples from the customer’s machine to be cleaned using the proposed equipment and specific project goals. In some cases, the initial trial does not achieve the desired outcome. Together with the customer, the short fall is reviewed and a new approach designed and tested. This method provides the customer with the confidence that they are making the right equipment selection and that the desired ROI can be achieved.