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 PULP & PAPER
Whit Real-time Performance Management (RtPM), mill performance is evaluated in real-time against Key Performance Indicators. Raw material and energy consumption, environmental pollutant levels and equipment downtime are tracked and optimized across all production units to improve profitability and quality.
For applications of RtPM for pulp and paper are shown below.
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Pulp and Paper Mill Steam Energy Monitor
The energy required to produce steam is a major cost component of production in an integrated pulp and paper mill. A fine paper complex will typically use between 13,000 - 17,000 pounds of steam for every ton of paper produced. A major Canadian pulp and paper producer is using RtPM to track and optimize steam usage across their mill and to report daily usage to operations and monthly usage to accounting.
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Pulp Mill Tracking
A major paper compny has used RtPM to develop a pulp tracking system that automatically tracks the production flow of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified pulp through its entire mill pulping process. FSC, an independent non-profit organization that sets internationally accepted standards for environmental sustainability, allows forest products to carry the FSC logo only when a required minimum of fiber content is traceable to and FSC-certified forest of origin and is documented by a full chain-of-custody review. The paper company has gained recognition for its progess in environmental sustainability and is avle to sell the products made from FSC certified pulp for a higher value in the marketplace.
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Paper Machine Performance Monitor
This RtPM application combines process data with data from the mill product tracking system to provide paper machine performance summary reports (basis weight, machine speeds, downtime, etc.) The reports are used by mill management and accounting to monitor performance by grade or by machine on a shift, daily, week and year-to-date basis.
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Paper Machine Felt Monitoring
The drying felts on paper machines are very expensive to replace and difficult to keep clean. However, proper performance of the felts is critical to paper mill production, paper quality and energy usage. A paper mill uses three dimensional profile viewing displays in RtPM to monitor felt drying capacities to determine if their felt clening sprays are working properly and when felts need to be changed. |
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Paper Machine Grade Management
RtPM is being used for automated grade management on paper machines. Grade specifications are documented by machine and by grade and may be automatically uploaded, manually entered or modified by the machine supervisor. Operators can log comments specific to an individual grade run. Users can view the most recent data, a specific grade run or another time period. Grade specifications can easily be imported, exported, updated or modified and stored as specifications for a new grade. Users can maintain a history of grade specification changes. Major benefits are shortened grade change times and faster change times on specifications for new grades. |
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Paper Machine Lost Opportunity Module
This RtPM application is used to analyze the periodic behavior of variations in the paper machine process to evaluate the lost opportunity,i.e. the ability to reduce the basis weight target and/or increase the moisture target while maintaining quality specifications. Both wet-end process variables and dry-end quality measurements are monitored and used in the calculations. In one instance the potential savings on a linerboard machine was calculated at $250,000 per year. |
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