International technology group Andritz has received an order to supply a dry fibreboard recycling line to Sonae Arauco’s mill in Mangualde, Portugal.
The line will recycle end-of-life fibreboards back into valuable fibres as new raw material for fibreboard production. Andritz says it will be the first industrial-scale fibreboard recycling line in the global wood-based panels industry.
“Recycling fibreboards is an important step towards a circular economy,” said Paulo Pinto De Sousa, director at Sonae Arauco.
“It reduces the consumption of natural resources and energy.”
The dry fibreboard recycling line is based on continuous steam treatment with a special discharging system using the Andritz Steam-Ex discharger, which minimizes steam consumption and maintenance requirements. This, says Andritz, allows continuous processing of fibreboard material with very low steam consumption and high runnability.
“By combining our proven pressurized refining systems with Andritz Steam-Ex, our pretreatment process based on steam explosion, we have developed an efficient solution for fibreboard recycling,” said Michael Frint, Technology Director at Andritz.
Start-up of the fibreboard recycling line is scheduled for the second quarter of 2025.
