Introducing a more stable pulp production process with less waste, higher yield and fewer stoppages.
How does a Mantex Flow Scanner help pulp and paper production?
The wood chips used in pulp production have natural variations in moisture and density. The amount of water and bone dry fibre entering the process will vary. On-line and real-time measurement of all the wood chips before they enter the pulp process makes automatic feed-forward adjustments possible. The result is a more stable process with more pulp produced at the desired quality. Oh with less chemical consumption and with unwanted objects detected before they cause damage.
More about pulp
Stabilised pulp process means more revenue
Pulp is measured with a Kappa meter and produced according to the end product requirements. Fine photocopy paper might have a Kappa of 20-30 whilst box-board cartons might have a Kappa around 100. The pulp production team strives to meet the required target Kappa with as much stability as possible. Why is kappa stability the holy grail for process engineers and fibreline managers? Well not just because it means less problems and stoppages and an easier life. If more pulp conforms to the target kappa there will be more premium grade pulp produced.
Reduce bottlenecks – increase pulp production
The cooking chemicals used in the digester can be recycled by the recovery boiler. An ingenious device that burns the lignin from the wood for energy and leaves the residue for further processing and to be returned to the cooking plant again. If the recovery boiler is the bottleneck that is limiting production ( and it often is) reducing the cooking chemicals and a stabilised Kappa will also mean an increase in productivity. A more constant flow of lignin to the recovery cycle will allow it to be operated close to its maximum potential. An imbalance in the cooking process can cause a backlog in the recovery cycle and the production rate decreased until removed. Forehand knowledge of changes to the raw materials permits compensation of the cooking liquors to minimise such disturbances. The more accurate raw material information also enables lower safety margins with less cooking liquor and bleaching chemicals required.
Improve yield, increase income.
If the kappa stability can be improved the target Kappa can be increased without detriment to the rest of the fibreline process. That is to say that with less Kappa variation the target Kappa can be increased such that the higher Kappa values are the same as before. The serious financial benefits can be counted in wood savings or improved yield for more pulp. The Flow Scanner makes this possible.
Less downtime, more production time, more money
Performance of pumps and filters and other production equipment is reduced by rocks, stones, sand and other hard objects. The Flow scanners ability to detect many foreign objects for an automatic removal system to function is shown to bring tangible pulp mill performance improvements. As well as maintenance cost savings and leaving engineers free to work on other projects.
