Katérina Liapis | October 19, 2021
In this blog post we have collected our key learnings from working with corrugated board in over 170 trials. You will find information about reduced starch consumption, prolonged stability of viscosity in starch adhesives, robustness, increased productivity, bonding quality and how to fight warp. Finally, we share feedback and learnings from customers!
If you don’t find the information you are looking for here, remember that you can always contact our experts for a chat.
Due to the current short supply of industrial starch in the corrugated board market, demand has increased and so has the price. Corrugated board producers are actively looking for innovations to improve their production and reduce costs.
In addition to its favorable sustainability profile, Exilva has shown to be a problem solver in starch glue to produce corrugated board. With Exilva, you can reduce your glue consumption by at least 15%. Some corrugators have seen a reduction up to 20 %.
If you are new to cellulose fibrils or wish to learn more about the differences between microfibrillated cellulose/nanocellulose/nanocrystals. We recommend taking a look at our blog post that explains the terms and their differences. You can find the blog post here!
Exilva has indeed proven its worth in more than 170 trials and primarily solves a well-known gluing issue at the slitter/scorer, crossknife and stacker when running challenging qualities such as heavy double or triple wall boards.
By using Exilva on both Single Facer and Double Backer, with native corn, one corrugator experienced a reduced glue consumption of 20%. Steam consumption was also reduced by 8% and downtime in converting was reduced by 20% due to much less post-warp and improved bonding.— Customer learnings, Plant 1 (native corn, EU).
This corrugator has reported a 13% glue reduction on their Double Backer production. Due to improved bonding, they also achieved a 33% speed increase on their heavy liners (469 g/m2). Borregaard continues to work with this corrugator to further improve these results.— Customer learnings, Plant 2 (native corn, APAC)
Read more about our customer stories here!
There are many available additives out there used to improve board quality and productivity, most of whom are synthetic polymers such as PolyVinyl alcohol or formaldehyde-based resin. Alternatively, modified starches or One-Bag Mixes (OBM) can also be used to achieve similar results and the modifications can also be synthetic based.
Through our experiences with Exilva and starch adhesives, we have seen how cellulose fibrils may improve the viscosity stability of starch adhesives. We have also seen how Exilva brings robustness to the starch adhesives, which may prolong shelf life and give possibility for over-weekend storage. Moreover, Exilva brings robustness towards mechanical impacts, such as the pressure from pumps over long distances.
As a result, Exilva allows to increase production speed on heavy qualities where the glue is the limitation, improve board quality and reduce waste. In addition, Exilva can help you move away from modified starch and run with native starch at same performance at least, giving you more flexibility in terms of starch supply.
All in all, Exilva can help you increase productivity, improve board quality and/or reduce production costs. Exilva works on all starches and processes.
Do you still feel hesitant about trying Exilva? Just so you know, you are not alone on this road, we provide consulting and technical service throughout the journey to meet your objectives.
