One of TAPPI’s largest active committees met on November 5-6 in Neenah, Wis., USA, to share best practices and tips for operating yankee dryers. The Yankee Dryer Safety and Reliability Committee heard technical presentations from Gary Furman of Nalco on wet-end impacts of yankee coatings, Al Coons of Clearwater, and Jerry Vandoros on yankee cleaning procedures. Each of these will be posted on the committee website.

New work groups were formed addressing several areas of interest:

• Surface Reliability (led by Sam Archer, Nalco)—developing best practices and checklists for blades and blade holders and yankee coatings
• Yankee Dryer Bearings (led by Scott Thompson, Airtherm)—addressing design and installation, storage, lubrication, preventive maintenance, warm-up/cool-down, failures, insurance, and record keeping
• Steam and Condensate (led by Yee Tak Ngan, Swagelok)—this group is hoping to address corrosion control, steam related interlocks, troubleshooting/evacuation issues, and steam joint troubleshooting.

In the future, the Yankee Dryer Safety and Reliability Committee will be part of the newly formed TAPPI Tissue Division. Its next meeting will be April 30 – May 1 in Nashville, Tenn., immediately following the Tissue360° Forum technical program.
  

More information about the committee is available online, or contact Scott Springmier sspringmier@tappi.org