Yokogawa system cuts paper mill operating expenses

Aerial view shows Celulose Nipo-Braileira S.A. (Cenibra), a Brazilian paper mill that has achieved operational expense savings of more than $2 million using a Yokogawa GMSC Exaqunatum plant information management system (PIMS).

A Brazilian paper mill has achieved operational expense savings of more than $2 million thanks to the application of a Yokogawa GMSC (formerly Yokogawa Marex) Exaquantum plant information management system (PIMS).

Celulose Nipo-Braileira S.A. (Cenibra), based in Belo Oriente, Minas Gerais State, began production in 1977 and currently produces 940,000 tons of eucalyptus bleached pulp a year. The company used Yokogawa DCS for many years, installing Centum XL initially and upgrading to Centum CS3000 recently. When need for a PIMS arose in 2002, Cenibra management chose the Exaquantum PIMS with a requirement for 7,500 tags and 25 concurrent clients.

Three quantifiable benefits—reductions in downtime, chlorine dioxide, and fuel consumption—can be attributed to the system since it began operation in January 2004.

在安装之前,核电站多次受到影响ed blockages in the initial digester unit, requiring almost the entire line be stopped while the digester was cleared. Based on the data gathered by the PIMS and a cross-variable analysis, the plant was able to determine the root cause of the problem and cut the level of digester blockage by a factor of six. The improvement let to additional production worth $60,000 per year.

Chlorine dioxide is a necessary and expensive chemical additive to the bleaching process. Historical data analysis has given Cenibra a better understanding of the relationship between the ClO2 level and pulp quality. As a result, ClO2 consumption has dropped 12.8%, saving $1.2 million.

pim系统也帮助植物量化the energy balance involved in its processes. Heat input has dropped, saving 7,500 tons of oil per month, for a saving of $570,000 annually.

In addition, a multi-disciplinary team from Cenibra developed a prototype key performance indicator (KPI) system late last year. It was based on a standard Exaquantum/Microsoft Excel access interface and produced calculations for two key areas: loop control assessment and machinery assessment. The successful prototype led to the commissioning of an intelligent KPI management application in an integrated Web environment. The application receives tags from Exaquantum, produces KPI calculations, and then returns its scripts back to the operators and engineering staff using a Web graphics interface. Results are also fed back to the Centum DCS to control the production system.

The company recently expanded the system to 20,000 tags and 41 concurrent users. Software and hardware were upgraded in March to accommodate utilities and recovery boiler plants, and for increased productive capacity currently being developed.

Exaquantum PIMS is an information management system for process industries that integrates data from many systems in a plant to produce business information for use by decision makers at all levels of the enterprise. Applications include chemicals, food, petrochemicals, oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals industries.

—Jeanine Katzel, senior editor, Control Engineering, jkatzel@reedbusiness.com

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