AUSTRALIA – Melbourne-based paper, packaging and recycling company, Visy has installed its first ANDRITZ FibreFlow Drum pulping system in Australia to optimize operations.
Visy says the FibreFlow Drum pulper has a maximum feed capacity of 1,400 t/d, fiber cleaning equipment, and a spray water treatment system for producing various board grades.
“The drum pulper is the first of its kind in Australia,” says Jean Yves Nouaze, Executive General Manager Pulp & Paper, Visy.
“This upgrade will increase our capacity to process up to an additional 95,000 tonnes of wastepaper per year, to be made into new products here in Victoria. We thank ANDRITZ for partnering with Visy and working collaboratively on this critical project.”
Peter Clewes, Vice President Fiber, ANDRITZ Paper, Fiber and Recycling division added: “I’m very pleased that our first FibreFlow Drum pulping system for Australia is part of an investment that focuses on the further strengthening of the Australian waste and recycling infrastructure.”
The innovative ANDRITZ drum pulping system enables Visy Paper to process a demanding special raw material mix consisting of household wastepaper and Australian OCC (Old Corrugated Containers) with a reject content of up to 25%.
The drum pulper features FibreFlow Drum with longer and reinforced design to ensure gentle pulping of the demanding raw material mix and efficient removal of coarse contaminants at minimum fiber loss.
It also has innovative PrimeScreen X for spray water treatment as well as a new RB450 cleaner to enable superior removal of glass fragments.
The addition of drum pulper is part of the company’s investment plans to scale its operations in Australia.
In September last year, the company invested US$150 million in a new corrugated cardboard box manufacturing plant in Queensland.
The plant will be located at Hemmant, 11 kilometers from Brisbane CBD. It has been approved by Brisbane City Council.
In addition to the cardboard box plant, the company also announced plans to invest US$500 million to build a new glass food and beverage container recycling and manufacturing facility in Yatala; and invest US$48 million in major upgrades to the company’s material recovery facilities (MRF) on Gibson Island.
The three Queensland projects combined are expected to create 900 jobs in construction, and support 300 green-collar, remanufacturing jobs once operational.
These investments are part of Pratt’s 2021 pledge to invest US$2 billion in Australian recycling and clean energy infrastructure over the coming decade, which the company says will create thousands of new manufacturing jobs and bring Visy’s total investment value in Australia to US$11 billion.
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