Computer Process Control in Modern

Pulp and Paper Industry

Tiwari A.K.*, Rao N.J.* arid Bhatjiwale A.S.'"

1 INTRODUCTION pulp mill, the bleach plant, the paper machine etc.
Better control means more money. Financially, mini-
The computer revolution has made a great computer have made CPC a realistic and almost necess-
impact on the industrial development. The scale of ary investment in the mills Better product uniformity
improvement and development in computer technology fewer rejects, less downtime, efficient use of energy and
has placed it within the reach. of even small industries, materials require the process computer installations in
'business houses and offices. Computers cover a broad the mills. The minicompiiterEan not he ignored' be-:
span of applications and the computer process control cause of their increasing capability and decreasing cost
(CPC) is one of the major application in the proc~ss per word of core, memory. The online instrumentation
Industries. Today computers can monitor and control . monitors greater proportion of product than laboratory
most major and m:;tny minor 'control takes ;in the testing and produces more representative prpduction
modern pulp and paper industry. For example: data while decreasing the human error, component.
The CPC.system can operate 'in real-time, using.cont~-
Computers can' be used to monitor liquor composi-
nuouslygenerated data to optimizer.production var~-
tion and flow rate into the' digester. ' It can measure
abIes. The time lag involved in laboratory analysis
the liquid temperature, ' residence time and heat
is practically eliminated
inputand then it can compute cooking-zone tem-
;1':' perature adjustments to prevent over-cooking and
under-cooking and therefore boosting up the diges- 2 CONTROL LOOfAND SENSQRS
ter yields substantially. A typical automatic control loop consists of three
basic components: sensor (with transmitter), controller
The most widespread use of computers is to con-
and control element (Fig 1). The sensor is at the heart
trol the paper machine. , It can calculate t~e set-
of any control loop. Automation is not possibls without
points for, stock flows, machine speeds and water
a reliable measurement of controlled variable. In
flows, to the headbox and finally adjusts the stock
general, few variables can be measured directly with
flow based on measurements and feedbacks from
use of active or passive transducers others are based on
the dry end in order to control basis weight, Jt measurement of related properties. For example, the
inereases the production, reduce the above broke moisture' content of paper can- enly be measured directly
and minimizes the' grade-change time. by laboratory methods, but the moisture content can be
inferred from measurement of such related properties as
An exponential growth in the use of computers has
resistance, absorption of microwave, energy, absorption
revolutionized
industry.
process control in the pulp and paper
Why the swift modernization in process
of infra~fed energy. The pulp and paper industry uses •
many of the common process variable sensing/monitor-
control is undergoing 7 One. could say that .reliable
-ing and control techniques. However, the industry has
computer hardware is available do to the job. It is com-
patible with a wide ran8.e of mill uses and environ- many variables which are unique to -itself. These
ments.The "adveiWofininiC&mputers' bas"O'roti!ght ', include chip moistQrecontfol,effective/active alkali
"about'rapfd advances ill' computer-process-control prac-
tically in all sectors of pulp and paper industry: the

IPPTAVol, 24, No, 4, Dec:. 1937

 TABLE-I
'Sensing Principle bflmporfant Variables in the Modern Pulp and Paper Industry

Variable Principle of Measurement Remarks

1. Chip Moisture Radio frequency sensing fields The capacitance lind resistance of chip samples are
determined by bridge using radio frequency sensing
field; A thermistor determines chip temperature
and a load cell measures the weight of each cons-
tant volume sample, The output is a temperature
and density-corrected moisture content. ,
2. Effective Alkali Conductivity titrations via Computer The conductivity titration provides an alkali
interfacing. . concentration of black and white liquors. Via com-
puter interfacing, each sampling, titration (wit~
H2S04) and flushing cycle is performed automati-
cally.
'. C8'I(}dmetri~method. A known amount of fibre is reacted withdilute
HN03 under controlled time/temperature condi-
tions A calorimeter measures the color intensity
of the reaction liquor, which is directly propor-
tional to lignin content of fibre sample before
reaction. The residual lignin is directly related to
Kappa number.
4. , -ConsiStency; Fluid shear and fluid viscosity The cellulose fibres, because of their optical. acti-
Polarized light beam, vhY;'will partially depolarize a polarized light
beam. The ratio of measuring current to reference
current gives a linear relationship with the dry
fibre content of the pulp stream.
5. Pulp Freeness Level measurement of the drainage The sensor extracts a pulp sample from the stock
volume from the stock line. Iinecineasures drainage through the collected fibre
mat, and finally flushes away the sample, Pulp
freeness is determined by level measurement of the
}Irainage volume.
6. Sheet Moisture Infrared transmissions Microwave
technique, optical technology

7. , Basis weight Radioactive technique. K radioattive(Kryptong5,~tr?nti~m90). ~et~

source alongwith either a scintillatien or, IOnIZa-
tion cham bet detector to,' measure the.strength
of the source after passing 'through the sheet i~
used.' ' '

-s. Caliper Magnetic reluctance. The positioning head of the sensor contains a
floating magnetic plate which gently touches
• the underside of the sheet and maintains a contact
between the top of the sheet and the
measuring head. A pulse frequency, related
the pole-to-plate separation due, to sheet, is
generated and is transmitted to th~ computir
interface, The sensor slides gently across the
moving sheet and continuously measures the
caliper.

~. Color . Optical technology; Measurements are accomplished when.a_.ligbt

beam passes through the paper web is detected
by a silicon diode detector. As the paper moves
through the light beam, it produces a high freque-
ncy aiternating waveform at the detector.

iPPTA \lill.::24. No. A. Dec; 981 ''75

levels, residual lignin, stock consistency and freeness, 3. PAPER MILL PROCESS CONTROL
basis weight, caliper, sheet moisture content, colour,
The CPC stfiltelY ite.pplwilble to Various sections
brightness, opacity etc. The most important aspect in
of the pulp and paper mill. These are discussed under
any control strategy Is t6 chQb'se a proper sensor to tile folhtwi"l jsecti()ns.
sense the variable. There has been significant develop-
ment in sensor/transducer technology with advent of -Pulp mill and bleach plant control
c::ompblerl'rnicropr6qes50t ba.S~d process control, The -Paper machine control
~WIPr~ appli~ble to !I~itic pqlp and paper industry .•.
varmbtea are Iist~ in table •.1. As can be seen, most of The recovery plant consisting of multiple effect
the sensor develbpment is bllsett on basic pri11cil'les of evaporators, recovery furnace, boilers and causticizing
physical sciences and these have been integrated into are similar to many chemical plants and their process
electronic circuitary. control strategy is not discussed here.

3.1 PULP MILL AND BLEACH PLANT CONTROL:

The transducers based computers can be used to
help management to improve the regulation of steady
state production runs and scheduling of batch digester
operations. The advantages are higher yields, greater
throughput, reduced digester chemical and evaporator
operating costs. Computers in the pulping process
monitor tIw chip and liquor input, temperatures, pres-
sures, residence ti~. anslyzes chemical compositions
and measure the pulp discharge. The mathematical
model of the digester system can also be setup in the
computer which enables the system to consider wood
$pee1es, obiI' llloisturta,,,t densityasptocess distur-
banees.Thi'smathemaUcai model can also control the
FIG.1. GENERAL CONTROL LOOP chemical composition of white liquor and its flow rate
into the digester, the ratios of white to black liquor,
These sensors measure theprocess vadab(es and
transmit an appropriate signal to the controller. The
residence times and beat inputs.
controller compares the incoming signal to the set point The computers alsohelp management in controlling
.,.nd trWlllits an error sjgpa,l to the control element. the bleech p~ntpr~ Variables _1'& efFect,ively in
l'h~ 'Co~rolol~eat is th~ull¢tua,kld. ~a the 4i~ion of order to produce more uniform pulp at reduced chemi.•
COffeQtfut'th,e errol'; A typicaloonsMenoy (:O-lltrolloop
cal costs by regulating individual process stages and
is Shown in ftg.2. "showing tlf~ prihCiptes. scheduling grade or production rate changes. The pro .•
duction rate change is important to bleach .plant regu-
lation since variation in incoming brown stock flow or
any consistency may seriously affect the regulation of
•
other downstream process stages.
ClLtalON
VAlVE
3.2 PAPER MACHINE CONTROL:
~TOCK_
CHEST
The most wide spread use of computer is to control •
the paper machine. A number of proven computer
techniques are used to control basis weight and mois.•
ture content. The efficiency of the paper machine can be
improved Significantly in terms of higher yields, lower
costs, better quality, and reduced grade-change time.
The computer techniques utilize both feed back and

I<PPTAVol. 24;No.l4,ho-. 1987

 feed forward control. The sheet is scanned as it comes computer can also store optimization programs and can
off the 'dry end of the ~a~hine, computing the basis transmit new operating instructions to the process
weight and moisture content. The steam flow valve in computers in the mill area according to the require-
the dryer section is manipulated to control moisture ments of the changing situation. These process compu-
.and the stock valve to control the basis weight. ters are capable of maintaining direct contact with on
. '
,going mill process for the purpose of monitoring and
"control while at the same time collecting and reporting
4. THE HIBRARCHICAL SYSTEM vital operational data. For example, the IBM system
Under. the hierarcpicalsystem, the data are captured 7 can be used in all three major. sections of the mill-
; i•••••

by the host computer from the dedicated process com- the digester house, the bleach plant, paper machine and
puter~ (Fi~.l). These data are used not only to opti- recovery plant. This system feeds the necessary data to
mize the process itself, but also to serve much broader' "the host computer; calculates the process set points,
operating an4 management information requirements. issues operator guide information, alerts operators to
The small dedicated process computers perform the threatened process upsets.
routine tasks of unit process controlcommunicate with
.each other and with host computer in the mill. All the
, information regarding desired 'section ofthe mill can be Adopting hierarchical approach in the modern pulp
made available instantly from the host computer for and paper mill, the following are some of the important
operations control and management planning. The host operating and management informations which can be

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FIG.3 HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM OF PULP AND PAPER MILL CONTROL

71
 i
made available from the host computer and/or from the ""p~imary thrust of the present and future in p~per mill
process computers. computer utilization.

The process computer communicates its real-time

The Indian pulp and paper industry both in large
data directly to the host computer. The host com-
integrated sector and small sector isat cross roads With
puter, in turn, generates fully-processed"current in-
practically no profit margins. The rising energy costs;
formation about the total mill operation in summ-
reduced raw; material availability and-poor quality.of
ary form. There is virtually-continuos monitoring of
product have adversely affected the performance of
mill, production rates and yields, pul p and chemical
mills. 'The survival depends essentially on mill modern-
compositions and consumptions, flow speedsr.grade
ization which to a large extent depends on process con-
changes, downtimes etc. All the data are correlated
trol to reduce operational 'costs and increase product-
by time segment and end-product quality.Perform-
ivity. It is the time that mill manager and entrepreneurs
ance at each stage of production is compared with
concentrate on investments which pulls the industry out
"

standards. The deviations are flagged to manage-

ment attention, and miII status information is of the crisis. The fast development of of electronic
quickly availablebv means of terminal inquiries. ind ustry, particularly microprocessor based process
controls alongwith fairly reliable cheap computers,
The data caputured by process computers and opens up a new and challeging alternatives. The pri
relayed to host computer are immediately available ces of the computer controls are competitive and the
to billing departments. Using this information, investments are justifiable with low payback periods.
they can check roll footage accuracy, production The limited experience of some of the larger mills on
managers can make daily entries, and profit centre computer controls is very promising. It is right time
managers can make performance evaluations. to look at the skilled manpower needs required for
taking care of ('PC. It is hoped that the current decade
The host computer can prepare a morning report will see a major change in industry operations with
based on data collected from various process com- stress towards high degree of automation with CPC for
puters and pinpoints production, machine down- cost effectiveness and improved product quality.
times, shrinkage between reels and wrapped rolls,
overruns and precise usage of such costly materials 6. REFERENCES :
as titanium dioxide.
1. Lavigne, J.R., An Introduction to Paper Industry
Instrumentation, Miller Freeman, 1977.
5.· Conelusioo :
These examples are representative which high light 2. Lavig,e, J.R .• Instrumentation Applications for the
the key role of the computers in controlling and moni- Pulp and Paper Industry. Miller Freeman. 1979.
toring functions in the modern pulp and paper mill
3. Tesch, E.A., Pulp & Paper, Oct .• 1972.
processes and operations. The heirarchial computer
system offers great potential in terms of mill operating 4. MacLeod, M., Pulp & Paper, Feb., 1975.
efficiency, economy and profitability. It can serve as
the basis for a total mill control system which accura- 5. Cage, R., PulP. & Paper, July, 1974.
tely depicts and helps to manage the critical interrela- 6. Brewster, D.B., Pulp & Paper, Nov., 1973
tionships and interdependence of individual processes
and processing stages. The hierarchial approach is the 7. .Fokes, P., Pulp and Paper Journal, Nov. 1983.

78 I,'TA Vol. 24, No.4, Dec. 1981