Voith sets course for development of sustainable packaging papers with world’s most modern pilot coater

Environmental waste due to plastic pollution is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based packaging have long been sought. An innovative solution is the versatile barrier papers that are recyclable and ideally biodegradable. The coating process for these papers is demanding; in addition to the perfect application of one or more functional layers, the drying of the sometimes temperature-sensitive application media is a challenge.
Today, Voith officially unveils the world’s most modern pilot coater at an online grand opening event. Voith has extensively rebuilt its pilot coater at its Technology Center in Heidenheim, elevating it to the latest state of the art to meet the worldwide increase in customer interest in trials with barrier papers and flexible packaging solutions. For ideal results, the new pilot coater features expanded drying capacities, optimized web guiding and the latest automation technology and sensor systems.

“With the modernized pilot coater, Voith enables its customers to conduct extremely flexible pilot tests with different coating variants for all grades of specialty papers, packaging papers, board and graphic papers – and with highly efficient drying,” says Frank Opletal, CTO Voith Paper. “Customers can apply the knowledge gained directly to practical applications. By producing small batches for market tests or comparing different system concepts, our customers get a much higher planning reliability for possible future projects.”