#43 How can pulp producers increase yield, and improve efficiency in cooking and the fiberline?

00:00:02: Hello to all friends and fans of the pulp, paper and bioproducts industries.

00:00:07: Welcome to our exciting Spectrum podcast where today we will focus on continuous cooking and the fibre line two of the most complex and cost-intensive areas of a pulp mill.

00:00:19: We will explore how Android's automation advanced measurements analyzers Advanced process controls and digital twins are helping pulp producers increase stability improve yield significantly reduce costs in chemical consumption.

00:00:37: I am Mark Rushton and i will be your host.

00:00:42: cooking, the fibre line process are a bit like conducting an orchestra.

00:00:48: dozens of variables must work in perfect harmony.

00:00:51: chip quality liquor composition time temperature washing efficiency and bleaching stages all interact to make it final product.

00:01:02: Traditionally, long manual test delays, raw material variability and limited online measurements forced Mills to operate conservatively.

00:01:11: Today digitalization allows Mills to replace guesswork with continuous data-driven optimization.

00:01:21: Andrus addresses these challenges with a total automation and digitization portfolio for continuous cooking and fibre line combining pulp-eye fiber properties, analyzer smart chip level measurement and the Android's advanced process controls as well as the Android digital twins.

00:01:43: Together this solution upgrades the cooking and fibre line by stable optimized and increasingly autonomous operations.

00:01:53: to explore how these solutions translate into a measurable value for pulp producers I'm delighted to be joined today by John Watkins, Product Sales Manager, Analyzers and Advanced Process Control at Andrius.

00:02:07: Welcome Jon!

00:02:08: Great to have you with us.

00:02:10: Hey Mark thank you for having me.

00:02:12: i'm really excited to be here to talk about some of Android's automation and digitalization solutions.

00:02:17: so let's get into it.

00:02:19: excellent yes.

00:02:20: So lets dive straight in.

00:02:22: what are the main challenges pulp mills face?

00:02:28: Well, there's a number of challenges that come to mind and I would say the first challenge for pulp mills today is variability so The fiber line in pulping.

00:02:40: Is it continuous process?

00:02:41: It is not a discrete process like making widget.

00:02:45: You know Like an example might be An automobile part where you can actually shut down the production line And fix the quality input or fix the defect.

00:02:55: you cannot do that in pulpin.

00:02:57: The process never shuts down, and you're constantly having to deal with variability in the raw materials such as your wood.

00:03:06: It's constantly changing depending on the age of the wood chips or where they come from.

00:03:10: You're going have changes in your chemical input The strength of your cooking chemicals may change throughout the day And you're gonna have frequent process upsets.

00:03:20: You know a piece of equipment may go down that shuts down part of your process Or impacts the quality coming out of that part of the process which affects your overall pulp quality.

00:03:30: And even something as simple as shift changes, you know paper mills frequently run eight hour ten-hour shifts and those operators will leave so that the night shift can come in and how they operate.

00:03:43: the process may be different than the then the operators were before them.

00:03:47: So all of this leads to a higher raw material cost Higher energy costs A higher chemical consumption.

00:03:56: that's because mills are forced to run.

00:03:58: You know conservatively when you have a continuous process, it can give you inconsistent Kappa numbers.

00:04:04: in consistent brightness numbers will have increased downtime and just like I mentioned those operational differences between shifts can really impact your overall quality.

00:04:15: so mills or force to operate with the safety margins on their KPIs And that just inherently leads to increased costs and it can limit your production potential.

00:04:27: Secondly, another challenges that mills face is poor measurement in control... ...and what we say you cant' control which you can't measure.. ..and you can improve which you cannot control.

00:04:38: So ya know- We see a real lack of online measurements these days.

00:04:47: Lab technicians who run manual tests, so if you think about it what they do is They'll walk out to the process.

00:04:54: It may take them a few minutes to get out there They're gonna go manually collect a sample Depending on where in the mill?

00:05:01: There taking that samples from it.

00:05:02: maybe A dangerous area and maybe hard-to-get too.

00:05:06: it May Take then some time to Get That Sample.

00:05:08: it's Gonna Take Them Some more Time To Get Back to The lab And they gotta actually run that sample.

00:05:13: It may take them an hour or two to get the results, and then have to report it in the mills quality

00:05:18: system.".

00:05:19: So all of this takes time!

00:05:21: It could be two-three plus hours from when a lab technician takes samples.

00:05:25: so we can record which is really just often too late for operators.

00:05:31: make useful process changes.

00:05:33: you know those processes changes happen are too slow and you're reacting to something that's already happened.

00:05:40: So there is a real need for online process measurements in real time, uh... And finally I'd say the third challenge for pulp mills it just labor.

00:05:50: so number one mill struggle to retain talent its harder and harder to find young people to come into manufacturing environment.

00:06:00: The average age of the pulpin paper industry Is over fifty years old.

00:06:05: So there's a real loss of knowledge as some of these older operators retire and they don't have experienced trained people to replace them.

00:06:16: When we when you, when we have that lost experience.

00:06:20: the best way to combat it is to automate your process.

00:06:23: so We see a real need for automation from that perspective.

00:06:28: Excellent, thank you for that comprehensive answer.

00:06:30: I can tell that You've been in a few pulp mills because the pictures That you paint.

00:06:33: so i can see The guys running around to the lab and you know Running Around the Mill.

00:06:38: Yes yes more than one or two pulp mill.

00:06:41: So yeah

00:06:43: Excellent.

00:06:44: how does andrewits pulp and paper automation And digitization solutions help address these challenges?

00:06:51: Yeah We Can Help In A number of different ways.

00:06:54: so andrewit springs together repeatable and accurate online measurements, and control.

00:07:02: And so we're doing that.

00:07:03: an example might be our Pulp by Fiber Property Analyzer.

00:07:07: this is an analyzer.

00:07:08: they can provide various different tests on your pulp everything from kappa and brightness to fiber properties in shives.

00:07:16: it provides automatic reliable real-time measurement every four to six minutes TAPI standard testing methods, so you can trust it.

00:07:28: And it enables true twenty-four seven closed loop control when integrated with our advanced process controls.

00:07:35: So that would be the second solution we have here is Android's APCs or Advanced Process Controls and these are control strategies to help better control the paper making process.

00:07:49: An example of this might which is essentially an overall control strategy for your continuous cooking digester.

00:08:00: So we take the measurements from the pulpy, whether that be kappa or brightness of fiber properties and we feed these measurement into our control strategies as input And this will allow you to dynamically manage your alkali-to-wood ratios.

00:08:16: Your residual alkalis, temperature profiles in age factor throughout the digester can help you with managing your production rate and grade changes.

00:08:27: And it can do far more effectively than manual intervention by operators, so fewer operator touches leads to quality improvements in overall cost savings for the mill.

00:08:40: We also offer pulp on target which is a statistical modeling software.

00:08:46: It helps us use our inputs from the fiber property analyzer to basically make a statistical correlation and predict what your end properties are going to be of your final sheet of paper based on those fiber properties.

00:09:03: And so this can be tests such as bulk, tear, tensile, and porosity.

00:09:08: we can help predict all these test results online on the front-end So that you can identify that problem in the front end not have put a bunch value added work into it and then have off-grade, you know?

00:09:23: You can identify those quality issues on the front end.

00:09:26: And finally we also offer various digester measurements such as level controls in high pressure feeder adjustments.

00:09:34: for example our smart chip level measurement stabilizes digester operations by ensuring a very accurate chip column level And that is really a very critical factor in making sure you have even quality coming off of your digester.

00:09:55: Excellent, it does seem like you've transformed the whole process here so as we say proof-of-the-puttings are in eating.

00:10:05: what measurable results have mills achieved with these solutions?

00:10:10: Overall we've defined several specific measureable values for this solution.

00:10:15: I mean typically see A production increase of anywhere from half a percent to three percent.

00:10:21: We see cost reductions in terms of chemical savings, particularly your bleach plant or O two delignation for washing and that's anywhere from one to fifteen percent reductions in the chemical costs which is quite significant.

00:10:36: you know.

00:10:36: the biggest benefit, I would say is just quality loss reduction.

00:10:41: We can improve the stability of your CAPO or improved the stability if you're brightness which leads to better overall quality and these results are really both consistent and significant across the entire fiber line.

00:10:53: when we pair Android's measurements in controls together.

00:10:57: for example In continuous cooking with our continuous cooking APCs customers have achieved benefits such as half a percent to one-percent yield increase, which means more pulp from the same amount of wood.

00:11:11: Roughly thirty five percent improvement in your Kappa stability.

00:11:15: so that's a reduction in Kappa variation Which means better overall pulp quality and we see reduced costs in terms of chemical consumption and steam consumption.

00:11:25: on the digester Using the chip level control And Andrews' APCs, we've seen a reduction of nearly fifty percent in digestive chip level deviations and the same goes for IV-level variations.

00:11:42: We have seemed like I mentioned close to thirty five forty percent reduction in blow line capa variation.

00:11:50: with regards our washing advanced process controls.

00:12:01: We've seen a dry solids improvement of about one percent going to the evaporator.

00:12:06: So that's significant savings you can achieve in terms of steam reduction at your evaporators and just less chemical demand In the breach plant.

00:12:15: with our O two delignation APC customers has seen anywhere from seven to fifteen percent increase in o-two delignification efficiency And lower chemical demands.

00:12:27: And we've seen, again anywhere from twenty to fifty percent reduction in Kappa and Brightness variability.

00:12:34: That goes along with the production increase of anywhere from zero per cent to half a per cent.

00:12:43: Finally our Android's bleaching APCs number one would be less off-grade.

00:12:49: you're able to achieve your final brightness targets more often.

00:12:53: You're able to have less variation in your final brightness targets and that can be anywhere from ten to fifty percent.

00:13:01: We've seen bleaching chemical savings of any where from seven to fifteen percent.

00:13:05: again production increases anywhere from half-percent five per cent.

00:13:10: wow goodness gracious.

00:13:12: that's one big pudding for eating.

00:13:14: there is a lot i imagine it does.

00:13:17: all those percentages are saved must add up.

00:13:20: so Could you actually give us any hard numbers, actual savings in a mill?

00:13:24: What does it add up to?

00:13:26: Absolutely.

00:13:27: Well these savings really depend on the production of your mill.

00:13:31: obviously three percent on a mill that's very large and producing a large amount of tons every year is going to be more smaller mills about three percent maybe a little bit less but I would say typically particularly here.

00:13:47: five hundred thousand upwards of two million dollars in savings.

00:13:51: and you'll read with these Android solutions.

00:13:53: Wow, excellent!

00:13:54: Those are serious numbers...serious numbers.

00:13:57: They are they are.

00:13:58: So John can tell us how digital twins enhance cooking and fiber line performance?

00:14:04: Yes so android's digital twin is essentially a virtual plant model And Digital Twins continuously compare real-time plant data With the validated process model.

00:14:17: So what this does is it allows the system to detect deviations early and steer the process back towards those baseline or optimal conditions.

00:14:27: The digital twins can be especially valuable during process disturbances, process upsets grade changes perhaps when you're going from a lower production rate to higher production rates in ramp up period just generally helping maintain stability avoid quality losses And over time, you know digital twins give us the ability to have new process insights and it can support mills overall continuous improvement efforts rather than just a one-time optimization.

00:15:00: It allows real time...it allows long term change overtime for improved process

00:15:07: performance.".

00:15:09: So how does this impact the operators' and longterm mill performance?

00:15:15: Yes, well so.

00:15:16: this allows operators to move from reactive firefighting all the time.

00:15:22: To supervisory control and acting proactively.

00:15:28: So fewer operator touches means manual interventions are reduced.

00:15:33: We see shift-to-shift performance becomes more consistent And knowledge is embedded in the system Rather than rely solely on an operator's individual experience.

00:15:46: from a business perspective this means higher availability for your equipment lower maintenance requirements reduced emissions and water usage in the clear path towards autonomous operations.

00:16:00: And when paired with Andrews life cycle services we can ensure that these gains are sustained or even improved overtime

00:16:09: Clearly something that makes a huge difference.

00:16:11: Clearly excellent John fantastic.

00:16:14: Can you just finish perhaps by giving us some an overview of the sustainability benefits?

00:16:19: Of this digitization?

00:16:22: Yes, so that is another good question.

00:16:24: here at Andrews We are very focused on sustainability and The paper industry in general has a real push for sustainability.

00:16:31: So I would say the number one benefit to sustainability from these solutions by Andrets is just a reduction in your overall energy usage at the mill.

00:16:41: I mean, anytime you can automate it allows for opportunity to save energy and make your process more efficient.

00:16:49: You know additionally we're talking here about using less chemicals.

00:16:52: chemical inputs are huge input to the pulp paper industry.

00:16:56: when you can automated reduce variability use less chemicals in your mail.

00:17:02: Excellent John.

00:17:03: thank so much for really interesting discussion.

00:17:06: Thank you, Mark.

00:17:07: thank you for having me and You know happy to provide a little bit of insight into the automation and digitalization solutions that Andrews provides.

00:17:16: great thanks.

00:17:19: This episode shows how Automation and digitization are no longer optional in cooking and fiber line.

00:17:26: They are essential for competitiveness By combining advanced measurements and analyzers advance process controls and digital twins And its helps pulp producers stabilise their processes, increase yield reduce costs and unlock hidden production potential while moving towards autonomous future ready

00:17:47: operations.

00:17:49: If you'd like to learn how Android's pulp & paper automation and digitisation solutions can improve yield stability and sustainability in your cooking and fibre line contact our experts to explore the right solution for your mill.

00:18:04: Thank you for listening, subscribe to stay updated on how Android's automation is shaping the future of pulp and paper production.

00:18:14: Until next time goodbye.