Keeping Track

Voith Launches PluraMaze to Reduce Energy Consumption in Refining with Proven Customer Benefits

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  • Energy savings of more than 25 per cent on no-load energy, significantly increased lifetime or improved refining results (details below)
  • Labyrinth based design innovation (patent-pending) enables optimised flow and reduced energy losses
  • Three tailored variants available to meet customer requirements in refining applications

Voith introduces PluraMaze, a new generation of refiner fillings designed to significantly improve energy efficiency and lifetime in refining. The new solution addresses key challenges faced by paper manufacturers worldwide, including rising energy costs, increasing pressure on efficiency and changing raw material qualities.

PluraMaze, refiner filling, refining, stock preparation, wear part, paper production (Photos: Voith Group)

Initial customer installations are demonstrating measurable benefits. For example, Progroup, a packaging paper producer of containerboard based in Burg, Germany, selected PluraMaze 5.6, focusing specifically on energy efficiency and process stability under comparable operating conditions. 

With PluraMaze, we were able to reduce no-load power by more than 30 per cent compared to the previous filling, which has a direct impact on our energy consumption. At the same time, the process runs more stable, and we achieve more consistent quality of the final paper.

Kevin Zilm, Deputy Production Manager at Progroup

These energy savings are the result of a newly developed filling geometry based on a labyrinth-like structure. The patent-pending application design reduces internal backflow and significantly lowers no load power.

Further customer installations confirm energy-saving potential in different refining applications. In a long fibre application at Pfleiderer Spezialpapiere, a German producer of specialty papers made from virgin fibres in Teisnach, PluraMaze 5.3 was evaluated against the previous Voith Pluralis filling with a focus on energy saving under comparable operating conditions.

With PluraMaze, we saw clear improvements in energy efficiency reducing no-load power by 27 per cent.

Reinhold Walter, Head of Research and Development at Pfleiderer Spezialpapiere

The new PluraMaze 5.6 variant optimised for European and Asian OCC pulps enables enhanced fibre treatment and delivers longer lifetime. At a Japanese specialty paper mill, PluraMaze delivered a 70 to 80 per cent increase in lifetime compared to Pluralis, Voith’s previous filling generation under comparable operating conditions. This performance directly reduces annual wear-part costs and the frequency of filling changes.

In China, a leading containerboard producer tested PluraMaze 6.5 in an OCC line with a focus on improving refining efficiency. In comparison to Voith’s Pluralis fillings, PluraMaze delivered a higher refining degree under comparable operating conditions, pointing to more efficient fiber treatment.

PluraMaze is available in three variants for different requirements: PluraMaze 5.3 for customers with a primary focus on refining results and energy efficiency, PluraMaze 5.6 for a balanced combination of energy efficiency and lifetime, and PluraMaze 6.5 optimised for maximum lifetime. This modular approach allows paper manufacturers to select the ideal type depending on their operational priorities.

About the Voith Group 
The Voith Group is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 21,000 employees, sales of EUR4.8 billion and locations in over 60 countries worldwide and thus is one of the larger family-owned companies in Europe.

The Group Division Voith Paper is part of the Voith Group. As the full-line supplier to the paper industry, it provides the largest range of technologies, services and products on the market and offers paper manufacturers holistic solutions from one source. The company’s continuous stream of innovations facilitates resource-conserving production and helps customers minimise their carbon footprint. With its leading automation products and digitalisation solutions from the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio, Voith offers its customers state-of-the-art digital technologies to improve plant availability and efficiency for all sections of the production process.