GERMANY – A new Siempelkamp medium-density fibreboard (MDF) plant, ordered by Egyptian manufacturer Wood Technology Company(WOTECH), has begun assembling in Egypt.

The new plant is considered an important step in Egypt’s government initiative to use rice straw in a value-adding, CO2-reducing and sustainable manner. WOTECH, founded by companies in the Egyptian oil and gas industry, is playing a pioneering role here and is positioning itself with the new Siempelkamp plant at the Idku site near Alexandria in the areas of environmental protection and resource efficiency.

Construction of the Siempelkamp plant for processing rice straw into MDF at Idku started in January 2022.

The Siempelkamp Group is responsible for the overall planning and will provide the scope of supply. The forming and press line is supplied with an 8-feet x 48.7m ContiRoll. The scope of the order also includes a cooling and stacking line, a sanding line, and a packaging line.

The new MDF plant is designed for an annual production of 205,000 m³, the panel range covers 3 to 40 mm. By using the annual plant rice straw, she opens up new perspectives for a raw material that would otherwise be largely burned as a waste product. In addition, it closes the gaps caused by insufficient local wood deposits. The panels produced primarily benefit the furniture industry in the local and Arabic region.