Press Felt Cleaning and Conditioning - The Art, Science and Service, 1998 Engineering Conference Proceedings

Proper wet-press felt cleaning is a marriage of both art and science. The manner in which the cleaning is performed, along with shower placements, is just as important as the cleaning chemistry selected. The application is influenced by the specific cleaning chemistry requirement.

The primary factor governing cleaning chemistry selection is the furnish composition, contaminants, and wet-end chemistry. Press section elements, their configuration, product grades and machine limitations often influence the way in which the press felt cleaning can optimally be performed.

A key function of wet-press felts is water transport. This requires that the press felt must be maintained clean, with maximum open void-volume, in order to assist in maximum dewatering of the web.

The ultimate goal of press felt treatment is to maintain felt cleanliness. Doing so prolongs felt life, while maximizing felt dewatering ability over the entire life of the felt. Press dewatering effects machine runnability and sheet quality directly. We shall focus upon press felt cleaning methodologies, and discuss various analytical -a methods of monitoring and assessing press felt dewatering performance. This will provide papermakers with runnability tools for optimizing press section performance.