Korsnas AB, Gavle, Sweden: The First Mill to Operate a Shoe Calender, 1999 Papermakers Conference Proceedings

Per Arnesjö, Sven Håkansson, Martti Tuomisto, Mikko Tani

Korsnäs AB’s Gävle mill in Sweden was the first paper mill to install a shoe calender on a paper machine. That was back in June 1994. The calender is used in coated liquid packaging board and coated white-top linerboard production on PM 5.

The shoe calendering technique is based on the shoe press design, where a hydraulically-loaded shoe inside a soft belt roll and a heated top roll form a long nip. Besides the long nip, another major benefit is that the nip pressure can be controlled independently of the nip dwell time.

Shoe calendering improves surface finish and uniformity, while minimizing the loss of bulk, stiffness and strength. Pilot plant trial results and actual production experiences at Korsnäs indicate that this new technology will contribute to fiber savings when compared to traditional soft-nip calendering.

Production experiences during the four years of operation at Korsnäs provide interesting facts on belt life, runnability and other important production issues.