Brazilian particleboard and hardboard producer Eucatex SA has finally started up its new 350,000m3/year Dieffenbacher thin fibreboard line. (See WBPI, Focus on Brazil, Issue 5, 2010, p34 for more details.)
October saw the T-HDF/MDF continuous press line rolling off its first 15mm standard MDF board.
It will take another three months of trials and adjustments before the new line, designed specifically to produce thin fibreboard, is up to speed and able to go into full production, according to Dieffenbacher. It should be fully operational by January 2011.
Although originally projected to have a 350,000m3/year capacity, the new line is now scheduled to achieve output of around 20,000m3/month up to June next year. This rate is due to increase to 25,000m3/month or 300,000m3/year from December 2011, Eucatex predicts.
At its heart is a 21m long Dieffenbacher continuous press manufacturing a 2.75m wide eucalypt-based master fibreboard panel. Metso provided the wood preparation and refining equipment and the glue kitchen and blending come from Pal and Imal. The Italian firm EMG supplied the saws, transport and raw board finishing.
Flavio Maluf, Eucatex’s executive president, said the company intends to manufacture HDF panels with an 850 – 880kg/m3 density, compared with the 750kg/m3 of MDF board on the market today. The main target market for the new line will be board applications where high mechanical resistance is paramount. These include doors, flooring, drawers and dividers.
