8' x 78.6 m: With this press format, the new MDF plant for Australian Panels is the longest ever developed by Siempelkamp. The Australian wood-based panel producer ordered the plant from its German partner for its location in Mount Gambier.
The new MDF plant is the sixth Siempelkamp plant for Australian Panels. The customer last opted for a Siempelkamp particleboard plant in August 2023, which will be the largest in Australia with an annual capacity of over 650,000 m³. It will also be built at the Mount Gambier site.
"With the new, sixth order, the number of Siempelkamp equipment at Australian Panels increases to four MDF plants and two plants for the production of particleboard. They are part of the equipment at the Oberon and Mount Gambier locations. We are proud that Australian Panels operates its wood-based panel production exclusively with Siempelkamp equipment – and last but not least that we have supplied our customer with the longest MDF plant in the history of our company," says Geoff Robson, Managing Director of Siempelkamp Pty Ltd, looking at the overall statistics.
The new order for the Mont Gambier location includes the forming and press line including a ContiRoll® in the format 8' x 78.6m, the gluing and the cooling and stacking lines. The scope of supply also includes the competence of three Siempelkamp subsidiaries: Pallmann supplies a drum chipper, CMC Texpan a wood chip screening system, and Büttner contributes a drying system. This single stage flash tube dryer (tube diameter 3.0m, length 110m) is heated with flue gas and enables a maximum fiber throughput of 60 t/hr.
The plant will be designed in heavy-duty size 2, which is characterized by the extremely high running stability of the steel belt. Thus ensuring maximum service life of the components under special conditions, i.e. under high forces. The raw material used will be light Pinus Radiata – a non-porous coniferous wood that is particularly suitable as a feed material for the production of fiberboard and particleboard. The MDF plant will be delivered in May 2025 and production is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2026.