Spring Grove-based Pixelle Specialty Solutions, a specialty papers manufacturer, recently installed a smelt spout robot in its Spring Grove facility.
Valmet, a technology, automation and services developer and supplier for the pulp, paper and energy industries, designed, manufactured and installed the six-servo motor, FANUC M-900 series robot.
This is the first smelt robot installed in North America. It will clean regularly in a programmed sequence the recovery boiler smelt spouts. Operators retain control remotely and can use the robot’s camera for troubleshooting and evaluation.
Keeping recovery boiler spouts open ensures stable smelt flow and improves efficiencies in the liquor recovery cycle. It also improves safety. Removing smelt deposits manually can put workers in close proximity to molten smelt, black liquor, hot gases and ash.
“It’s incredibly exciting for Valmet and the paper industry at large, to install the first smelt spout cleaning robot system in North America at Pixelle’s Spring Grove, Pa., mill,” Drew Humphries, Valmet Vice president of pulp and energy for North America, said. “By helping Pixelle reach new levels of safety and boiler performance, this industry first project will help change perceptions about what is possible in pulp and paper.”
Pixelle Specialty Solutions operates in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.