Mitsubishi HiTec Paper invests in Bielefeld

As announced in the autumn of 2013, Mitsubishi HiTec Paper continues to invest in the optimization of the Bielefeld site. Five large recooling plants and two high efficient speed controlled screw chillers are currently being installed as part of a new process refrigeration system for two coating machines, and are expected to start up in July. Further investments will follow.

The five large recooling plants - the two largest are over 12m long - arrived in Bielefeld on schedule. They are part of a new process refrigeration unit for two of the speciality paper manufacturer’s coating machines. The two new chillers are needed to cool the process water in the system circuits. Supported by the large free coolers they effectively achieve maximum energy efficiencies.

The concept was developed together with the firm Redeker-Kältetechnik. The plant will start operating as soon as July. Energy Manager Gerd Finkenhofer is looking forward to future electricity savings of about 1 million kilowatt hours per year, which is roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of 200 single family homes. "This is only the first step of a consistent system optimization here at the site," says Gerd Finkenhofer. "A further 800,000 EUR will be invested in 20 decentralized climate and refrigeration units immediately after this. This will bring a further electricity saving of 500,000 kWh per year. "

In addition to investing in climate and environmental technology, Mitsubishi HiTec Paper is focusing on the optimization of production technology in Bielefeld. "Later this summer we will invest a further 3.2 million EUR in our state of the art coating machine No. 3, which is the fastest production machine in the thermal paper sector in the world today," says Managing Director Gerhard Schoon. "Objectives of the investment are, in addition to quality and productivity improvements, a more flexible use of the highly modern coating system with different product ranges."