LEBANON, OH., November 1, 2024 – Kadant Black Clawson LLC, a subsidiary of Kadant Inc. (NYSE: KAI), announced today the acquisition of the Tornado® pulper product line from Bolton Emerson Americas.

The Tornado pulper is a high-shear pulper capable of both tearing and fibrillating fibrous materials. The Tornado pulper is used by manufacturers producing papers from denim, cotton, and other long fiber sources. In addition to traditional packaging, tissue, and toweling applications, the technology is also used by molded fiber producers and textile recycling plants.

“The Tornado pulper expands Kadant’s influence with our current pulp and paper and molded fiber customers and provides entry into the growing global textile and carpet recycling industries,” stated Chris Demler, president of Kadant Black Clawson. “It handles materials that are exceptionally difficult to recycle, such as cured wet-strength materials, and is perfectly suited for mills requiring an economical, low-maintenance, compact pulper.”

The Tornado pulper is available in three sizes to meet the demands of different applications, with a larger machine in development. It pre-treats difficult to repulp raw stocks such as cotton, hemp, flax, leather, and synthetic fibers. It is also a highly efficient pulper for recovering fiber from post-consumer and industrial waste. A demonstration unit is planned for installation at Kadant’s research and development site in Vitry-le-François, France.

“This is the most efficient pulper for recovering waste from demanding materials,” said Pat McEnroe, product group director. “From fiberglass and plastic sheets to agricultural waste, carpet, leather, and rags, the Tornado pulper provides process efficiency while reducing ecological concerns and disposal costs.”

About Kadant

Kadant is a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems that drive Sustainable Industrial Processing®. The Company’s products and services play an integral role in enhancing efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in process industries. Kadant is based in Westford, Massachusetts, with approximately 3,500 employees in 20 countries worldwide. For more information, visit kadant.com.

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The following constitutes a “Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including forward-looking statements about our customers, products, operations, and markets. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Kadant’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2023 and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.