Kronospan is cleaning up its recycled wood fibre supplies with new technology designed for the gold mining industry.
The £1m investment in a processor at Chirk is part of a two-stage improvement in the company’s processes.
The machinery, adapted to extract any form of metal from recycled wood fibre, was originally designed to separate gold sediment from surrounding silt using a sensor and air jet system.
Kronospan is also working closely with its suppliers of recycled fibre to improve their cleaning processes to ensure a “purer” fibre arrives at Chirk.
The panel producer currently uses 300,000 tonnes of waste wood each year within its board products. Most of the fibre comes from packaging waste, which would otherwise be sent to landfill.
The improvements will also help reduce tool wear in the Chirk production line.
