Reply To: New Taplow Paper Mill (Maidenhead)

Thanks for your input Taff.

I was involve with a major starch trial at the mill in the 1990s. It was very ambitious, trying to replace the size press with reacted wet-end starch. Would have been great if it worked.

We were defeated by the poor general runnability of the machine.  I could not believe the accepted lost-time when we were setting up the trial – as I remember it we were told that the average output equated to 14 tns/hr but the reel-up output was more like 18 tns/hr; the difference being lost-time.

The top-wire drainage was really sensitive and when we got close to the machine I could see why. Our introduction of large amounts of polymer impacted the drainage and that was it sheet down. Most machines would have coped. Machine crews were great very patient.

It would be interesting to hear more of your experiences Taff.