Paper Technology International 2024 - Journal - Page 19
PAPERTECHNOLOGYINTERNATIONAL
better decisions in the
EEnablingpaper
mill control room with
advanced harmony modeling
Mari Zabihian, Director, Global Digital Services, Kemira
Markus Jääskeläinen, Chief Business Of昀椀cer, Co-Founder, SimAnalytics
INTRODUCTION:
Catching the 昀椀rst signs of emerging disturbances in the variable and dynamic papermaking process is a challenging task, even for
the most experienced operators and engineers. This article explores how advanced monitoring and the innovative approach of harmony
modeling support process stability in paper and board mills. This unique visibility into the entire papermaking process empowers process
experts to identify, mitigate, and prevent production issues before they impact runnability, quality, and overall production ef昀椀ciency.
When production problems
arise at a paper or board machine
and impact the runnability of the
process, the papermaking process
might have already deviated from its
intended course for hours or even
days, all going unnoticed. At other
times, production problems emerge
rapidly, leaving minimal opportunity for
preventive actions in the control room.
The papermaking process
is an intricate and complex system
characterized by an almost limitless
number of combinations of constantly
changing variables. These variables
signi昀椀cantly affect the runnability of the
paper machine, the quality of the 昀椀nal
product, and the overall ef昀椀ciency and
sustainability of production. Accurately
predicting the future trajectory of the operations or correctly
identifying the root cause of a production issue is a challenge, as
even the most experienced operators and engineers cannot grasp
all the interdependencies within the multifaceted process.
In the midst of this complexity, the papermaking process
also generates an enormous amount of data. The pressing question
in the industry today is how to utilize the extensive amount of
data effectively to enhance operations. There are many analytical
tools and data visualizations at hand in the control rooms. Still, it
is impossible for any human to follow all the developments and
changes in the process. Since process experts’ time is limited, it
would be essential that their focus is directed toward solving the
most pressing issues at any given moment to maintain a stable
production process and achieve higher machine ef昀椀ciency. After all,
the consequences – breaks, defects, spots, holes, quality issues –
of delayed or incorrect decisions can accumulate rapidly in this long,
continuous process, where different process phases interplay and
affect each other.
Transparency from headbox to rollers
The answer to the challenge can be found in the synergistic
combination of human expertise, process data, advanced
monitoring and analytics, and automated machine learning.
Kemira KemConnect™ Harmonizer, a state-of-the-art digital
service developed in collaboration by Kemira and SimAnalytics, is
speci昀椀cally designed for the operators and engineers in the pulp and
paper mills; to help them improve the ef昀椀ciency of the process they
oversee and are responsible for.
The traditional analytical tools and methods, which rely,
e.g., on predetermined patterns to recognize disturbances, often fall
short of suf昀椀ciently re昀氀ecting the dynamic nature of the papermaking
process. These specialist tools tend to focus on a speci昀椀c interaction
inside the paper mill, providing only a narrow view of the process
and, thus, often failing to ensure stable production.
KemConnect Harmonizer utilizes automated machine
learning and unique harmony models to accommodate the everevolving process and its complex logic and correlations. Moreover,
Harmonizer monitors the papermaking process as one system, one
logical entity from headbox to rollers. It combines real-time operation
and performance data from diverse aspects of the process, including
both the mechanical and chemical parameters. It can also enrich the
view with data from downstream or upstream subprocesses.
This approach covering the entire papermaking process
provides unique transparency and predictability, enabling the
detection of hidden phenomena that, if unnoticed, could impede
smooth operations. By providing actionable insights, Harmonizer
empowers operators and engineers on-site to make informed and
timely decisions. These insights help mitigate and reduce process
disruptions and runnability issues, which could otherwise impact and
impair productivity, product quality, or resource ef昀椀ciency.
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