By Christian Coffman
An established mill producing MG grade specialty paper products in the Southeastern United States was experiencing a production slowdown with their Number 1 Tissue Machine due to high moisture content in the sheet. The machine controls scheme is structured to slow the production speed to meet the moisture specifications at the end of the drying process. The mill manager, an experienced production veteran, suspected issues with the dryer system energy transfer efficiency and called Fulton Systems for help.
Fulton Systems, pulp and paper industry steam and condensate system specialists, is the OEM serving North America for over 100 years, and is the mill steam and condensate recovery system provider. The Fulton Systems' steam and condensate systems are engineered to optimize the energy transfer from the boiler to the dryer, re-use the spent steam, and maximize the condensate recovery. The system design include the required controls, thermocompressors, liquid recovery tanks, condensers, pumps, final control devises, and syphons.
Fulton Systems engineers were dispatched to the mill during normal operations to talk with the mill personnel, observe the Tissue Machine, gather critical data, analyze the steam and condensate system, correct any issues identified, and improve the Tissue Machin production rate. The engineers were able to identify issues with the dryer/sheet temperature profiles, dryer syphon efficiency, the blow through steam control scheme, and issues with the condensate tanks' collection rates. These issues and recommendations to correct them were communicated to the mill personnel who agreed with the findings and gave Fulton Systems approval to implement the solutions. Once the Fulton Systems' equipment and controls updates were completed, the engineers monitored the Tissue Machine operations along with the mill personnel and confirmed the solutions provided improved the Tissue Machine production above expectations. This is one of the many paper machine and steam system diagnoses and upgrades where Fulton Systems has garnered similar results over our long history of performance and value-added services to the users.
Prior to the Fulton Systems visit and implementation of the recommended solutions the Tissue Machine MG grades production rate was logged at 50 tons/day. The production rate since the Fulton Systems visit has increased by 50% or 25 tons/day resulting in a net revenue increase of $42,500 per day or $1.2 million per month. Additionally, Fulton Systems has provided a longer-term plan to further increase production and automate the systems at a Return On Investment of less than one month.
