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 In India’s Uttar Pradesh State, Greenply Industries Ltd. prepares to enter the ranks of world-class MDF producers with a new 180,000 m3/yr mill.
Video clip: Shoban Mittal of Greenply speaking at the 2009 International Wood Composites Symposium
MDF is not new to India, and up until now only four MDF mills of any
size have been built, with capacities ranging in size from 150 to 265
m3/day. The Greenply mill now under erection will clock in at 600
m3/day, or 180,000 m3/yr. The location is in the north of the country, at Rudrapur, 240 km from New Delhi, India’s capital city.
Two other new operations are Balaji Action and Teekays, both with
expected capacities of 150 m3/day (each equivalent to 45,000 m3/yr) for
an eventual total of 90,000 m3/yr.
Total capacity of the existing above three mills under construction is
270,000 m3/yr, thus India will soon be able to join the “One-half
million m3/yr of MDF Club.” A notable step forward in the nation’s
industrial development!
There are four existing plants as follows:
Shirdi Industries -150 m3/day - 45,000 m3/yr
Nuchem Ltd. - 200 m3/day - 60,000 m3/yr
Mangalam Timber 200 m3/day - 60,000 m3/yr
Bajaj Hindustan 570 m3/day - 160,000 m3/yr - this is split between 2
mills of equal capacities.
Total capacity of above 4 mills: 1,120 m3/day - 325,000 m3/yr
Total MDF eventual capacity of India’s seven producers: 580,000 m3/yr.
(Data is made available via the kind cooperation of Mr. Shobhan Mittal of Greenply,)
India’s MDF industry, 20 years old this year, was preceded by
a large and active wood based panel sector, as well as by a vast array
of plywood mills.
Particleboard and hardboard manufacture in India both have long
histories, dating back to the 1950s. MDF followed in 1989, employing
European technology and hardware. Most of these plants were of moderate
size when compared to those found in Europe and North America, ranging
between 30,000 and 90,000 m3yr. India’s largest PB mill (a new project
by Star Panel) is rated at 240,000 m3/yr.
Plywood, based on extensive native hardwoods, played a historic---and
major--- role in the development of this nation’s panel industry. The
first plants were put in by British interests in the North & NE
parts of India, including the historic Andaman Islands, circa 1925.
Wood product manufacturing went into a tailspin in the late 1990s after
the Government called a halt to harvesting operations. Approx. 80 mills
in the North East shut, forcing new plants to open near seaports where
timber could be imported. (Note: There is no officially reported total
figure for the overall output per year of all types of Indian panels.)
 Top-level European technology at Greenply’s MDF Mill
The millsite is at Rudrapur, a city 240 km east of New Delhi in India’s
North. The technology and virtually all of the hardware are being
sourced from European suppliers.
Logs will be broken down in a drop-fed drum chipper supplied by Bruks,
and chips (with bark still on) will be reclaimed by Euc ladder-type
units to be supplied by a prominent material handling supplier, Trasmec
of Italy. The refiner from Metso is an EVO 54/56. Drying in two stages
in an SMT (Sunds MDF Technologies) fluegas-heated dryer, which will
feed fiber into a Z-sifter.
Dieffenbacher of Eppingen, Germany, is building the forming line, which
is to be followed by a 28-m-long continuous press. This unit,
incidentally, will be India’s first such installation of its type.
The outfeed line is being supplied by the new SMT technology combines
and will lead to a Lukki installation for the intermediate and during
time storage.
Mr. Mittal explains, “The most-popular size in India is 8 x 4 ft, and
our line will produce master panels of 8-ft width, but it also will
have the capability to produce 7-ft-wide panels. We will also be the
first manufacturers to suply MDF in 8x6 and 7x6 sizes.”
An 8-head sander, being supplied by Steinemann of Switzerland, is of
latest configuration with a design speed of 100-120 m/min, less than
the standard velocity, inasmuch as the 5x5-m panels will be shorter
than the longer panels needed to justify higher sanding speeds due to
single panel feeding cycle time.
Surfacing is to be assigned to a Giben sanding line from Italy, followed by a book saw, also of Giben manufacture.
On the heat plant side, a Thermax moving-grate (coal, agro-waste and
wood-fired) is equipped with an ESP. The dryer will be flue-gas-fired.
The energy plant employs technology from the previous Metso Energy
Plant technical team, now a part of Siempelkamp. Thermax, a prominent
Indian supplier and market leader of energy systems, has developed the
energy plant based on their expert is in the field with assistance and
guidance from Dieffenbacher’s technical team.
Other key suppliers include Scheuch for the main pneumatics,Trasmac and
Pal for material handling and conveying and Siemens for the S77PLC and
Wonderware Intouch HMI.
Consultant for the project is Dave Allen of Auckland, New Zealand, who
has a number of MDF mills throughout Asia, Latin America, Australia and
NZ in his portfolio. Asked to comment on this landmark high-tech Indian
MDF mill, he called it “a very-modern technology-and-concept plant. It
is being implemented to turn out 200,000 cubic meters per year. This
translates to 605 m3/day on a 330 m3/day on a basis of 16mm panels.”
Equipment from Germany supplier factories already began being delivered
in March of this year, aiming for a startup target date of December,
2009.
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