MDF fiber production from annual plants
ANDRITZ is a major supplier of refiners for the MDF industry and has innovative pressurized refining systems.
In many parts of the world, wood is scarce or becoming scarce. This requires MDF producers in these areas to use alternative raw materials, such as annual plants. The advantages of these fiber sources are a short growth period and a high growth rate in tons per hectare. Some agricultural industries, e.g. sugar production, are currently burning potentially valuable MDF raw materials. The challenge in processing these fibers is the different chemical and mechanical properties of the agricultural products. ANDRITZ offers tailor-made solutions for such raw materials and has the capability to develop suitable systems in cooperation with interested customers.
Bagasse storage pile
Pressurized refining system
The process
Availability of agricultural feedstocks (e.g., bagasse, straw, etc.) is seasonal. To ensure year-round production, large storage systems must be used – these can be centralized or de-centralized. ANDRITZ offers suitable systems for both options.
A pre-treatment and cleaning phase may be necessary, depending on the origin of the feedstock. This includes depithing (for bagasse) washing, cleaning, and resizing of the material. Different machines are then used according to the shape required to chop, resize, remove contaminants, and provide the material moisture level for processing into MDF.
After pre-treatment and cleaning, the material is fed into a pressurized refining system. Due to the difficult feeding characteristics of annual feedstocks, next to the special feeding into the plug screw feeder a horizontal digester is frequently used.
ANDRITZ works in cooperation with research institutes worldwide to prepare solutions for a variety of raw materials to give customers the best solutions.
