Banque de France affirms their trust in Hunkeler Systeme AG

For more than one hundred years, Europafi, a daughter company of the Banque de France, has produced printing paper for bank notes. Like the printers for the Banque de France, Europafi is based in Chamalières, in the Auvergne. This physical closeness has resulted in strong synergies in industrial production. Along with the paper manufacturer and the bank note printer, the Banque de France is considered the most important employer in the region.

Thanks to integrated production processes, the Banque de France has achieved a significant added value over the entire production chain, from the production of security paper to the printing of the bank notes. Europafi supplies not only the Banque de France but also collaborates with other central banks within Europe and other countries.

To ensure that the high requirements can be fulfilled, the paper manufacturer is reliant on the best possible technology available on the market. Thus has Europafi invested not only in production technology itself, but also in a new system for safe irreversible destruction of production waste.

Destruction at Security level P5

The system developed in collaboration with Hunkeler Systeme AG will go into operation in the first half year of 2021. Europafi will be increasing capacity, compared to the present, by as much as fifty per cent: the new technology will make it possible to destroy up to 1,800 kilos of paper per hour. The particle size will correspond to security level P5 and thus fulfil the strict legal requirements of the European Central Bank. As well as increased capacity, attention has been paid to a reliable production process. The paper production and the shredding process are combined to a great extend for inline processing.

Hunkeler Systeme AG masters complex requirements

The new shredding system will process waste from two production lines; the one includes web remnants, foils, as well as archive material from paper production, the other encompasses the waste which must be destroyed during the cutting and trimming of sheets to a certain format. Batches, each with a weight of up to ten tons, are transported via an integrated weighing machine to a two-phase shredder with a granulator. Thanks to the two-stage shredding, the granulated particles complies with the strict security requirements. While the line is operating in offline status, an identically configured granulator for the inline shredding process is directly connected to the paper production line. To ensure that both granulators can always work simultaneously at full performance, the pneumatic extraction system was modernised. The priority here was always the guarantee / maintenance of the highest possible process security. Additionally, an automatic spark extinguishing system has been installed to prevent possible explosions caused by sparks. Intelligent controls will lower the energy consumption of the shredding system to an absolute minimum. The large-scale project is a milestone in the development of Europafi, which is at the moment the most modern bank note paper manufacturer in Europe and one of the leading producers in this branch in the European area.