Astrabel, a newly founded tissue company in Belišće, Croatia will erect the country’s first tissue mill. Andritz will supply a complete tissue production line, including stock preparation, tissue machine and rewinder. A corresponding agreement was signed at the end of June. The start-up of the new machine is scheduled for early 2023. The stock preparation plant will be equipped with a FibreSolve FSV pulper for energy-efficient bale grinding, as well as machinery for HD cleaning, flaking, TwinFlo disc refining and headbox screening in the approach flow system.
The tissue machine is a Prime LineCompact S 1300 with a design speed of 1,300m/min and will produce a 2.85m wide web of paper. It is equipped with a 15ft Prime Dry Steel Yankee and a Prime Dry Hood Combo – a combined efficiency hood with wet-blow and dry suction – to enable energy efficient production.
Metris UX, the Andritz digitization platform with the fully integrated Andritz Metris X distributed control system and numerous applications for remote assistance and process and production optimization will enable maximum plant performance. «This investment is not only a major step for Astrabel but also for our city» explains Dinko Burić, mayor of the city of Belišće. «Andritz offers a perfect solution with local proximity as well as the opportunity to conduct trials and train the staff at their tissue pilot plant in Austria».
«We look forward to receiving our state-of-the-art tissue production line that aims at sustainable, high-quality tissue production,» adds Milorad Krgović, Chairman of Astrabel Board of Directors.
Astrabel will produce jumbo tissue rolls and plans to sell the product mainly in the domestic market to meet the growing demand for tissue paper from manufacturers of toilet paper, napkins and kitchen rolls».
The total value of the investment project was around 18 million EUR, 11 million EUR of which would be spent on the entire tissue production line supplied by Andritz.