A.Celli rebuilds and launches Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier’s PM3

A.Celli Paper, together with the Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier team, has successfully reconstructed and commissioned PM3 at the Roermond plant dedicated to packaging paper production. A.Celli Paper announces the completion of the startup of the reconstructed PM3 on June 24, with total satisfaction from our customer, Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier, both for the achieved performance and adherence to the planned schedule, despite difficulties related to the global pandemic. The reconstruction interventions carried out by A.Celli Paper on the PM3 of Smurfit Kappa, a line dedicated to the production of 1000 tons/day of 2-ply liner packaging paper with a basis weight ranging from 125 to 220 gsm and a width of 5090 mm, involved: These interventions resulted in a total downtime of 21 days, and the startup phase was completed on June 21. Mr. Sjon Vrieze, Technical Operations Director of Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier, states: “We were able to resume production in the afternoon of June 24, and the machine has been running steadily since then. The uptime is above target, the speed is on target, and the quality achieved is above target, so from the machine performance perspective, we are happy so far. I want to send my greetings to all the colleagues at A.Celli who have worked hard to get the job done in Roermond.” SMURFIT KAPPA ROERMOND PAPIER – COMPANY PROFILE Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier is a company founded in 1937 and is part of the Smurfit Kappa Group, an international brand with 350 branches in 35 countries and a leader in Europe in the production of corrugated cardboard packaging, containerboard, and bag-in-box. In 2020, Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier produced 635,000 tons of recycled paper from over 1.3 million bales of used paper.

Welcome Cloud Group

Prismaquimica S.A.S. welcomes our new representative, Clouth Group from Germany. The highest possible quality, total reliability, and a pioneering spirit are the tried and tested pillars on which Clouth Group has built its successful business for many years. Currently, products and services are available in more than 70 countries worldwide, thanks to a network of over 50 commercial representatives. Clouth’s reliability is appreciated everywhere with steady global growth. https://www.clouth.com/

PROCESO DE PRODUCCIÓN DE AZÚCAR

En la actualidad, la principal fuente de extracción de azúcar se realiza a través de la extracción, preparación y procesamiento de la caña de azúcar en los grandes ingenios azucareros, donde la caña de azúcar atraviesa múltiples procesos, transformándola de caña de azúcar a azúcar con un contenido de glucosa de aproximadamente el 95%. Este azúcar es 100% consumible y comercial. Detrás de los ingenios azucareros, hay una extensa línea de producción que consta de diferentes procesos interconectados hasta obtener el resultado final, que es el azúcar refinado. A continuación, se explicarán detalladamente cada uno de los procesos que se llevan a cabo actualmente para la producción de azúcar refinado. Principalmente, se realiza la cosecha de la caña de azúcar en los campos de cultivo, seguida del pesaje y muestreo mediante sondas mecánicas para determinar características como el contenido de sacarosa y la cantidad de impurezas que contiene. Luego, se transporta a los sistemas de transporte con tablillas que ponen la caña de azúcar en contacto con choppers y desfibriladores. En los ingenios azucareros, generalmente se utilizan dos choppers para facilitar el proceso de preparación de la caña, proporcionando un porcentaje de preparación que oscila entre el 65% y el 79% por sí solo (este porcentaje representa el nivel de preparación de la caña para extraer más sacarosa en los molinos). Estos choppers convierten las cañas pequeñas en astillas para lograr un tamaño uniforme y facilitar la extracción del jugo en los molinos. Los choppers constan de un eje horizontal montado en las tablillas transportadoras por donde se transporta la caña. Este eje está soportado por dos rodamientos y es accionado por un motor eléctrico o una turbina de vapor acoplada directamente al eje. Consta de 48 cuchillas basculantes conectadas a un soporte de hierro fundido superpuesto en el eje, girando a una velocidad aproximada de 650 RPM. Después de los choppers, hay un desfibrilador que desfibra las astillas salientes de los choppers para mejorar el porcentaje de preparación de la caña y facilitar la extracción del jugo en los molinos. El desfibrilador consta de martillos basculantes montados a lo largo de un rotor e se instala para dejar un espacio entre la punta del martillo y la placa desfibradora o yunque. El proceso de molienda consta aproximadamente de 5 a 6 molinos tándem, cada uno con 3 a 4 cilindros cilíndricos ranurados entre ellos, por donde pasa el lecho de caña previamente picado y desfibrilado. Esto extrae la máxima cantidad de jugo de caña de molino en molino. En este proceso, se agrega agua a una temperatura de 90 grados Celsius a los molinos finales para recircular y aumentar la extracción de sacarosa presente en el material fibroso. Los molinos funcionan a una velocidad de 6 a 7 RPM cada uno. Los residuos del último molino, comúnmente conocidos como bagazo, se utilizan principalmente para la generación de energía. Sirve como combustible en grandes calderas para generar vapor o también se utiliza en la fabricación de papel. El jugo extraído por los molinos se llama jugo diluido y tiene un pH entre 5.4 y 5.5. Este jugo se sulfitiza con dióxido de azufre (SO2) en una torre de absorción para eliminar sustancias formadoras de color. El jugo resultante de este proceso se llama jugo sulfitado con un pH entre 4.5 y 4.8. Se añade cal al jugo sulfitado para neutralizar la acidez e iniciar el proceso de floculación que permite la separación de sólidos no azucarados que han entrado en la caña. Este jugo se llama jugo alcalizado con un pH entre 7.2 y 7.5. El jugo alcalizado se lleva luego a intercambiadores de calor (tubulares o de carcasa y tubos) donde se calienta a temperaturas entre 102 y 105 grados Celsius. Esto permite que los clarificadores floculen los sólidos no azucarados a través de alcalinización, calentamiento y adición de polímeros. El jugo clarificado se pasa por tamices finos para eliminar partículas e impurezas presentes. Después de esto, el jugo resultante se envía al proceso de evaporación. Durante la clarificación, se generan residuos llamados “cachaza” que se envían al compostaje para producir abonos orgánicos. El jugo filtrado se devuelve al proceso de calentamiento del jugo para ser reprocesado en la clarificación. El jugo clarificado se lleva al proceso de evaporación, donde se elimina el agua que contiene, llevándolo a la temperatura de ebullición del agua (95 a 102 grados Celsius). En esta etapa, se elimina aproximadamente el 90% del agua presente, aumentando el contenido de sacarosa de 21 brix a alcanzar los 60 a 70 brix. El proceso tecnológico cuenta con 3, 4 o 5 evaporadores conectados en serie, en el que el primer evaporador es alimentado por vapor generado por un turbogenerador, y el resto de evaporadores efectúan el calentamiento con vapor de extracción del evaporador anterior a ellos, denominando esto una evaporación de múltiples efectos. Los evaporadores comúnmente utilizados por los ingenios azucareros para la producción de azúcar son del tipo Robert. Estos evaporadores tienen un cuerpo cilíndrico vertical con tubos por donde pasa vapor a alta presión y temperatura, calentando el líquido en su interior. Estos tubos están ubicados entre dos placas tubulares horizontales. El producto resultante del proceso de evaporación es un jarabe con un contenido de sacarosa del 60% al 70%. Este jarabe se dirige a recipientes (evaporadores de simple efecto que trabajan al vacío), que pueden ser continuos o discontinuos. Estos evaporadores funcionan con vapor del primer evaporador, manteniendo una temperatura y niveles controlados de Brix para generar cristales de azúcar. Después de esto, se ponen en contacto en el primer evaporador núcleos de azúcar con el jarabe; estos núcleos se alimentan de la sacarosa que contiene el jarabe y crecen hasta alcanzar el tamaño deseado del azúcar a producir. Debido a que no todo el jarabe se cristaliza, se procede a un proceso de centrifugado donde se separan los cristales de azúcar del jarabe no cristalizado. A este proceso se le adiciona agua caliente para lavar el cristal y quitar el jarabe … Read more

How are nonwoven fabrics made and what types are there?

Through mechanical, thermal, or chemical processes, nonwoven fabrics are created. These substrates are flat and porous sheets made of single fibers, melted plastic, or plastic films. Nonwoven fabrics, as the name suggests, are not created by weaving and do not require the conversion of fibers into thread. Variations in fiber selection, web formation, bonding, and finishing result in products with unique characteristics, making them suitable for various fields such as the hygiene and healthcare market, clothing, automotive, filtration, construction, and agriculture. We can divide the technologies currently used to produce nonwoven fabrics into six types: A thermal bonding process involves the use of hot air on the surface of the nonwoven material, resulting in a voluminous, soft, and uniform material with high tensile strength. This process does not use chemical binders and is the only type of thermal bonding process that exposes the entire product to a uniform temperature. Nonwoven fabric obtained through a spinning process called “spunbonding.” Melted polymeric fibers are passed through a spinneret to form long, fine fibers, which are then stretched and deposited onto a conveyor belt with hot compressed air, creating the fabric. Spunbond nonwoven fabrics are composed of extremely long and lightweight fibers, exhibiting high filtration capacity. Nonwoven fabric obtained through a bonding process of fibrous webs, either wet or dry, obtained through carding, air bonding, or wet bonding. The process, known as spunlace or “hydroentangling,” involves fine jets of high-pressure water penetrating the web, hitting the conveyor belt, and bouncing back, thereby causing the entanglement of fibers. Spunbond nonwovens, also called spunbond, are materials composed of extremely fine filaments. They are manufactured through a process that involves polymer extrusion to form continuous filaments, which are then conditioned, stretched, and deposited onto a conveyor belt to create the fabric. The filaments are chemically, mechanically, or thermally bonded to obtain the final product. Polypropylene-based spunbond is the predominant material for diapers and feminine hygiene products, as well as medical clothing. Spunbond is often combined with meltblown nonwoven to create a layered product called SMS (spun-melt-spun). Completely made of PP (polypropylene), SMS nonwovens are water repellent and can be used for disposable applications. Meltblown is commonly used as a filtering material due to its ability to capture very fine particles. Production technology similar to that used in paper manufacturing characterizes nonwovens of this type. These nonwovens differ from wetlaid paper in that more than 30% by weight of their fibrous content is composed of fibers with a length-to-diameter ratio greater than 300, while the density is less than 0.40 g/cm³. Wetlaid is commonly used to manufacture products such as tea bags, coffee filters, and disposable wipes. Among the key characteristics of nonwoven materials is elasticity, leading to progressive narrowing of the initial web width (neck-in) from the winding phase to the final product. In this regard, it is necessary to distinguish the specific characteristics of the two main types of nonwovens: spunlaid and spunlace. Spunlaid, characterized by a random positioning of its fibers, is more resistant to traction and, for this reason, undergoes greater contraction compared to spunlace. For instance, an initial web width of 3600 mm results in final rolls with a width of 3200 mm. Spunlace, on the other hand, is composed of fibers oriented in the machine direction due to the use of carding machines in the formation process. This makes it resistant to traction in that direction and, therefore, less prone to contraction.

SAUSAGE INDUSTRY

It is understood as processed meats those meat derivatives that are made from the homogeneous mixture of minced meat (originating from beef, pork, poultry, and all their combinations), animal fat (either in the form of bacon or from the same meat), salt to generate flavor, spices that give the characteristic taste to each of the processed meats, some additives, and preservatives necessary for human health. Subsequently, the mixture is introduced into both natural and artificial casings, undergoing pre-cooking and vacuum packaging to increase its shelf life and be distributed. According to their preparation, there are different types of processed meats such as fresh, cooked, dry, smoked, among others. The processed meat industry is one of the largest industries in terms of sales, with processed meats being one of the most consumed foods worldwide. This industry involves the preparation, processing, and distribution of processed animal meat (processed meats), with different production lines depending on the product to be made and the conditions it must meet. This production is done linearly with minimal manual operation, such as transporting the product in one of the machines. As seen in Image 1, the production process covers different stages, with the transformation stages being as follows: Due to the fact that the majority of the meat received for this process is frozen in blocks of approximately 25 kg and at a temperature of around -18 to -15 degrees Celsius, a thawing process is carried out in an industrial microwave, increasing the temperature to around -5 degrees Celsius. The semi-thawed blocks from the industrial microwave are transported to the meat grinder, where it crushes the meat blocks into sections of up to 8 mm and at a temperature between -3 to 0 degrees Celsius. There are two types of cutting systems used, namely the Enterprise system and the Unger system, with the Enterprise system being the most used in small and medium-sized enterprises due to its simple cuts made with a star-cutting blade, and the Unger system used in large industries due to its double and triple cutting systems. Depending on the intended application of the previously minced meat, it undergoes one of the mixing systems, which are the cutter or the mixer. In the cutter, a homogeneous mixture of ground protein is produced along with water, additives, and spices. The mixture has particle sizes of up to 1 mm, where the different components can still be identified separately. On the other hand, there is the mixer that produces a semi-homogeneous mixture with a pasty texture using helical blades. It incorporates ground protein, additives, preservatives, flavorings, and water. The resulting mixture from the mixer is poured into an emulsifier to achieve a fluid product and a completely homogeneous blend. After homogenizing the mixture and being fully prepared, it is injected into casings (natural or artificial) through an extrusion process. Strips of varying diameters and lengths are obtained depending on the type of processed meat desired. These strips are then hung on transport molds to be transported to the ovens. In the ovens, the processed meats undergo cooking to achieve a firm consistency while imparting characteristic color, flavor, and aroma. The aim is to achieve an internal temperature exceeding 75 degrees Celsius, maintaining this temperature for approximately five minutes. After this time, the transport molds are removed from the ovens and placed in cooling tunnels until they reach temperatures between 4 and 0 degrees Celsius. This cooling process prepares them for various cuts (if necessary) and vacuum packaging, resulting in a product ready for the market. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Flexible Packaging

Currently, flexible packaging is the most widely used in everyday life because it is used to store and transport everyday products such as food, body care products, household cleaning products, among others. The main functionalities of flexible packaging include preservation (for food products), protection of these products, and the ease of transporting, storing, and marketing them. This article will discuss the production process of flexible packaging, providing a deeper understanding of the production process. Before going into detail about the processes that raw materials go through to form flexible packaging, it is necessary to talk about the types of flexible packaging that exist and are most commonly used today, as well as the most commonly used raw materials for their manufacturing. What types of flexible packaging exist? There are different types of flexible packaging with different characteristics, depending on their manufacturing method. The main types include: Based on their structure, the types of flexible packaging can be distinguished into two types: monolayer (formed by a single layer of plastic material) or multilayer (formed by several layers of different plastic materials), depending on the manufacturing method. Production process of flexible packaging The production process of flexible packaging involves six different processes: extrusion and coextrusion (whether monolayer or multilayer), printing, lamination, cutting and trimming, and finally, sealing. This is the complete procedure for producing flexible packaging. Next, each of the processes will be described: Extrusion and Coextrusion The extrusion process involves forcing a thermoplastic material through a more or less complex and continuous orifice under pressure, in such a way that the material acquires a cross-sectional shape equal to that of the orifice. In the extrusion of thermoplastics, the process is not as simple, as during it, the polymer is melted inside a cylinder and subsequently, after obtaining its desired shape, it is allowed to cool. The objective of this extrusion process is to be used for the production of profiles, pipes, plastic films, plastic sheets, among others. In the case of flexible packaging production, it involves the extrusion of plastic films. The extrusion of plastic films consists of the following elements: an extruder, a head or die, a cooling air ring, a stabilizing or film calibrating device, a bubble collapsing device, an upper pull roller, and a winder, as seen in the following image. The process of coextrusion of tubular film gains importance due to its great versatility and the variety of films that can be obtained. Among its uses is the combination of properties from two different polymers to obtain a product with the sum of their advantages in a sandwiched film, aiming for a reduced thickness and lower product cost. The basic differences between a film extrusion line and coextrusion are evident in the appearance of two or more extruders and the modification of the head. Print In this process, inks are applied to the packaging material in a controlled manner and according to a specific pattern. Printing can be direct or indirect. Indirect printing is a procedure in which the image is not formed directly on the piece by a cliché, screen, or rubber plate but passes to the substrate through another medium, as in offset printing, where the image goes from the plate to the blanket and from the blanket to the substrate. In contrast, in direct printing, the image or artwork goes directly onto the substrate without any intermediate surface or roller. Flexography and rotogravure are examples of direct printing methods. The most commonly used method in this procedure is flexographic printing, which is a rotary printing method that uses plates engraved in high relief, adjustable to rollers carrying plates in variable repeat lengths. These plates are inked by another roller equipped with a doctor blade, which virtually transfers fluid inks to various substrates, resulting in high-definition images. Lamination Plastic lamination is used to enhance the appearance and barrier/technical properties of the final product. It is a process in which two or more plastic films are bonded using adhesive. In general terms, adhesive is applied to the less absorbent substrate layer, and then the second layer is pressed against it to produce a duplex or two-layer laminate. This allows us to blend the properties of different plastic and non-plastic films, resulting in structures with medium and high barrier properties. In the lamination process, the primary support coil is coated continuously with the adhesive solution. Without coming into contact with rollers or the other support, it enters the drying tunnel where a forced stream of hot air and powerful extraction removes the solvent included in the coating. Cutting and Trimming The cutting process is carried out using a rewinder where it cuts the master coil to the width of the packaging machines and also undergoes the trimming process. Trimming is known as the process in which excess material from a roll is removed to give a better appearance to a product or to improve processability conditions required by the customer. Sealing The sealing process involves giving a specific measurement to the film through a thermal process that melts two layers, providing a seal with resistance characteristics and defining volumetric capacity for the units produced. It involves a tool that is heated and maintained at a constant temperature (also known as direct contact thermal sealing). Various heated bars are used to make contact between the material and the hot interface, forming a bond. The bars, plates, and dies have different configurations and can be covered with a non-stick layer or use various interposing materials. An example of this is Teflon coating, which is used to prevent sticking to the hot tool. Following all these processes, the packaging undergoes various quality controls in quality laboratories equipped with equipment and standards that allow for a wide range of tests, validations, and checks to ensure the quality of the products and processes involved. Some of these include puncture resistance, elongation force, breaking strength, sealing strength, dart impact, coefficient of friction, and vacuum tests. Referencias

XXXI International ACOTEPAC Congress

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] We invite you to the XXXI International ACOTEPAC Congress that will take place in the city of Cali from Wednesday, February 8th, to Friday, February 10th. PrismaQuimica will be located at booth #56, and our represented companies Erhardt+Leimer GmbH, Kadant Johnson LLC, Kadant Lamort SAS, Techpap, and A.Celli Group will be accompanying us. The following conferences will be conducted by our representatives: We look forward to seeing you there! [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column] [/et_pb_row] [/et_pb_section]

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