Heidenheim/Kirkniemi. At Sappi Finland Operations Oy in Kirkniemi, Finland, Voith has successfully converted the existing Hedemora disc filter in the stock preparation unit to the latest BaglessPlus filter technology. As the number of discs could be reduced, the disc filter will be well prepared for future increase capacity. The rebuild has also substantially improved the performance of fiber material removal and reduced maintenance costs. Filtrate quality is now more stable due to no more leakage in filter plastic bags.

With the newly installed BaglessPlus disc filter sectors with knock-off nozzles the number of sectors could be reduced from 18 to 16 discs. With full assembly a capacity increase by 30 percent can be achieved, when future upgrade of the production line is necessary. The conversion to BaglessPlus has allowed stable and good filtrate quality. And this filtrate quality will remain constant over the entire service life of the sectors of more than ten years, as the BaglessPlus sectors are maintenance-free and do not suffer from any kind of leakage. Thanks to the consistent process conditions, the operation is more stable.

Impressed by the concept for the new filter technology with BaglessPlus, Sappi decided to also commission Voith to rebuild an Ahlström disc filter at its mill in Kirkniemi during this year’s scheduled summer shutdown.

Sappi is a leading global producer of premium quality fine paper. In Europe, Sappi Fine Paper Europe has a production capacity of 3.5 million metric tons of fine paper and 1.1 million metric tons of pulp per year. At Sappi Finland Operations Oy in Kirkniemi, 70 km from Helsinki, 760,000 metric tons of coated writing and printing paper is produced annually from locally sourced wood.

About Voith Paper
Voith Paper is a Group Division of Voith and is one of the leading partners and pioneers in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-conserving products to reduce the use of energy, water and fibers. Furthermore, Voith Paper offers a broad service portfolio for all sections of the paper manufacturing process.

About the company
Voith sets standards in the markets for energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials, transport & automotive. Founded in 1867, Voith employs more than 20,000 people, generates €4.3 billion in sales, operates in over 60 countries around the world and is one of the biggest family owned companies in Europe.*
^{* Excluding the discontinued Group Division Voith Industrial Services.}