Accelerated production at Masisa in Chile

In June 2023, Masisa S.A. commissioned an “Evosteam” steam preheater from Dieffenbacher at its particleboard plant in Cabrero, Chile. “This offers great improvements at a low investment cost, for example, increasing the capacity of our particleboard production in Cabrero,” says Roberto Stück, technical director at Masisa. “It speeds up our production while improving mechanical plate properties,” he adds.

Mounted directly at the press inlet, the system preheats the mat by introducing steam. This reduces the time needed to heat the mat inside the press, increases production speed and ultimately the capacity of the line by up to 20 percent. “The upper unit of the steam preheater can be used either in raised mode as a steam shower or in raised mode to inject the steam directly into the mat,” explains Tobias Hempel, product manager at Dieffenbacher.

“In view of the sharp rise in gas prices, which has also led to a huge increase in glue prices, the ‘Evosteam’ has another important advantage in addition to the increase in capacity: it helps to save resources, especially glue,” says Hempel. “If the higher mat temperature is not used to increase production speed, the glue has more time to cure in the continuous press. In this way, sufficient ‘glue bridges’ are formed to produce high-quality boards even with less glue use,” he adds

In addition, the system prevents condensation on the belts and any resulting effect on the plate surface by using thermal oil from the secondary heating circuit of the press to preheat the steam plate.

Other companies, including Pfleiderer and the Sumitomo subsidiary Vina Eco Board, are already using the “Evosteam”.

“After a very short installation period, we have now been working with the system for more than two years,” reports Christoph Liese, Production Manager at Pfleiderer. “It has been a great help to us. From day one, we have been able to increase our production speed and produce significantly more plates per day than before the retrofit,” he adds.