M-real Alizay: the biggest enzyme conversion unit in the world
Operational since the end of 2008 at the M-real Alizay factory, Roquette’s new continuous enzyme conversion unit is the biggest in the world with a capacity of 4,200 kg/hour. For the paper manufacturer, this investment fits in with the strategic switch to the production of recycled fibre-based paper for IT purposes.
Operational since the end of 2008 at the M-real Alizay factory, Roquette’s new continuous enzyme conversion unit is the biggest in the world with a capacity of 4,200 kg/hour. For the paper manufacturer, this investment fits in with the strategic switch to the production of recycled fibre-based paper for IT purposes.
The last few months have been marked by a major strategy change for M-real Alizay which has launched itself, since December 2008, in the production of recycled paper with in particular the Evolve range. A change of direction that aims to make this site not only a production unit for commodity paper, but also a manufacturer of paper with greater added value. « We now use 80,000 t/year of recycled paste that we buy from St Regis Paper (New Thames factory in the UK), explains Sandrine Dauster, the assistant of the Chief Executive, Denis Beauséjour, and in charge of communication. Out of an annual production of 320,000 t of printing/writing paper, we now manufacture 100,000 to 120,000 t from recycled paper sold for the most part in the UK and Germany. »...
...Operating on a continuous basis in a fully automated way in accordance with the new “Isochore” principle invented by Roquette (see box opposite)), the installation enables the qualitative properties of the starch glue to be optimised, while at the same time reducing the production costs: the saving in enzyme is in fact around 30 %. Another advantage: this enzyme conversion enables production with a higher dry substance content on the film-press. It also ties in with the policy of sustainable development thanks to the elimination of the zinc sulphate used previously at Alizay in the old batch process.
Reproduced courtesy of La Papeterie magazine (n°298)
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