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The Kadant Blog

Product Evolution in Effective Water and Fiber Recovery

During the past four decades, Kadant has supplied over 1,000 gravity and vacuum-assisted strainers to the pulp and paper industry. As the pulp and paper industry evolved, the need for a product with the advantages of traditional strainers that incorporated higher reliability, a simple design, and less maintenance was recognized. That need led to the development of the RotoFlex™ resource recovery strainer.

As highlighted in the graph above, the Gravity Strainer 4000™ series and the VA Strainer™ system are still viable options for applications that require higher flow and low PPM. However, the RotoFlex resource recovery strainer has additional benefits including simple design, less maintenance, and fewer spare parts when moderate flow rates were used. Other advantages include:

  • No continuous shower is required to clean the screen
  • No gear box or rotary joint
  • Backerless filter media design eliminate wear and improves screen life
  • Patented filter media cleaning system allows the usage of both finer filter screens and applications with higher total suspended solids
  • The screen can be changed in minutes and, in some applications, the screen can be chemically washed and reused
  • Intermittent batch cleaning shower keeps the mesh open and solid free to maximize the flow thru the screen
  • Operates through upset conditions

The RotoFlex resource recovery strainer can be engineered specifically for fiber recovery or water filtration. The primary objective for fiber recovery is to maximize consistency and fiber yield. Fine solids removal is critical and reject consistency is not as important when considering water filtration applications. This innovative technology can be used to separate solids from any water stream in a wide range of applications in paper and other process industries.

The following video depicts the RotoFlex resource recovery strainer in action.

  • Written by:

    Marcelo DeBoni

    Product Line Manager – Water Management, Kadant Solutions Division

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