Furnish Optimization - The Key to Raw Material

and Energy Savings in Paper and Board

Manufacturing

9.9.2014 Copyright GloCell Oy 1

Juhani Lehtonen

GloCell Oy has started back in 2004 as fiber

and furnish consulting company for pulp and

papermakers, founded by brothers Lehtonen

(Ph.D. and M.sc). They had an idea, that

forest based industry can do things in a new

way and wanted to develop a new software to

help in that process. That is how SoftaCell™was created.

Since then, GloCell has become the best on

the market providing solutions for

multivariable cost and material optimization.

GloCell’s SoftaCell™ optimization program is

nowadays globally in use by forest based

industry companies.

GloCell Oy

GloCell is a specialized company working

with different multivariable models for

furnish mix optimization and evaluation

of their cost to quality ratios.

Core competences of our company are

extensive understanding about the fibres,

mathematical modelling skills and wide

experience from the pulp- and paper

industry

WHAT WE DO

History

Part 1: Scientific Background

3

Where do we come from?

• The functional behavior of paper is characterized using methods that directly measure certain physical properties that are often believed to correlate with the required functionality

• Although these properties may or may not describe the actual functionality requirements thoroughly, they are tools for the paper manufacturer to target production

• These measured physical properties are often very strongly correlated, and changing one without affecting others is impossible

• This is because many of these properties are governed by the same fundamental variables

Wood fiberproperties

Pulp fiberPulp fiberpropertiesproperties

Fiber networkFiber networkpropertiesproperties

PaperPaperpropertiesproperties

End useEnd userequirementsrequirementsTreeStandMacro

environment

Bonded areaBonded area

Unbonded area

Fiber strength

Spec. bond strength

Fiber length

Runnability

Printability

Softness

CWT

Fiber length

MFA

CW

Vessels

Parenchyma

ConformabilityConformability

Fibers/g

Fiber cutting

FibrillationFibrillation

Fiber damage

Tensile strengthTensile strength

Tear strengthTear strength

In plane tear

strength

DensityDensity

Bulk

SurfaceSurfacesmoohtnesssmoothness

Air resistanceAir resistanceAdditive retention

Growth rate

Age

Species

Competition

Habitat type

Geneticbackground

Rain

Temperature

Soil type

History

OpacityFiber length

CWT

MFA

What are the ecology and forestrybased issues affecting

fiber quality

How is fiber quality transposed into paper properties

How do paper properties provideproduct benefits

The correlations of properties through the value

chain

Example of fiber baskets SW

Relative fiber length

Relativecell wall thickness

Douglas fir

Loblollypine

strength

opacityrefinabilitysmoothness

bulk

formation

Western red cedarScotch pine

Norway spruce

Sitka spruce

White spruce

Engelmannspruce

Lodgepolepine

Ponderosapine

Grand fir

Westernlarch

Easternhemlock

Westernhemlock

Subalpinefir

Blackspruce

Redspruce

Redpine

Whitepine

Balsam fir

SlashpineLongleaf

pineShortleaf

pine

Radiata pine

Scandinavian and Russian

West Coast BC

Southern US

BC Interior

Maritime province and Quebec

Main range Rockies, Plains and Western Ontario

Chile, New Zealand

® GloCell

Jackpine

2.0-3.3mm 2.5-3.5mm >3.5mm

>8 μm

5-8 μm

3-5 μm

Virginiapine

Example of fibre baskets HW

Relative fiber length and fiber width

Relative

cell wall

thickness

Sugar maple

Red maple

Silver mapleBetula

pendula

Betula

pubescens

Trembling

aspen

Bigtooth

aspen

American

beech

Yellow

birch

White

birch

Paper

birch

River

birchWhite

oaks

Balsam

poplar

Southern red

oaks

Yellow

poplar

Sweetgum

True

hickories

White

ash

Green

ash

Sycamore

Magnolia

(Sweetbay)

Eucalyptus

grandis

Eucalyptus

urophylla

Eucalyptus

nitens

Eucalyptus

saligna

Eucalyptus

globulus

Eucalyptus

tereticornis

Acacia

mangium

Gmelina

arboreaeEastern

cottonwood

Acacia

grassicarpa

strength

opacity

refinability

smoothness

bulk

formation

Indonesia

Northern US,

Canada high

aspen pulps

Northern US

Northern US

High maple

pulps

Scandinavia

Brazil

Chile,

Portugal,

SpainDeep south

US

0.6-0.8mm

<20μm

0.8-1.0mm

20-30 μm

>1.0mm

>30 μm

MTH

Indonesia>6 μm

4-6 μm

2-4 μm

Mid south US

High oak

pulps

Global palette of fibers

The Use Of PCA

• Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been shown to be a very useful tool in detecting fundamental variables that affect paper properties

• The main applications of PCA are to

• reduce the number of variables to a few underlying fundamental effects

• detect structure in the relationships between these variables, and ultimately to

• classify variables

Common Variance Explained By Various Factors In Mechanical And

Chemical Pulps

Principal

component

Mechanical pulp,

Strand et al.

Chemical pulp,

Howard et al.

Bonding 68% 42.4%-53.2%

Fiber length 24% 30.0%-40.3%Fiber strength 12.7%-17.7%

What Type Of Furnish Is Needed?

These targets can be achieved if one knows how to control the principal components (factors) contributing to these properties!

Process optimization Raw material control

Correct targeting (quality and cost)

High tensile?

High tear?Opacity?

Softness?

Porosity?

11

SoftaCell™

Fiber Knowledge Multivariable modeling

Monetary Tools

GloCell’s Approach

The understanding of multivariable modelling in the context of paper and board making has enabled to development of the tool. The user does not have to know

why it works and what the mathematics underneath is.

12

• SoftaCell™ primary function is to find and simulate the optimum furnish mix for different paper or board grades based on the potential of the available pulps and fillers

• With the help of SoftaCell™ optimal pulp combinations and refining ratios can be found in acknowledge of effect on final quality and cost efficiency of the mix changes

• In the program it’s easy to set limits minimum and maximum values for all the necessary quality parameter ranges and optimize without loss of total performance

How Softacell™ Works

Part 2: Fiber Benchmarking

9.9.2014 J. Lehtonen GloCell Oy 13

Note: The parts 2-4 will be presented as a live case using the SoftaCellTM optimization tool.

These slides (12-26) give a framework to what will be shown and discussed.

14

First you can start with just

benchmarking pulps

You can select each of the pulps you

have in the database for components to be benchmarked

You can select what ever refining level

you wish

You see all measured pulp

parameters with chosen refining

levels

15

You can use the graphs of any quality

measurements in the database

Easy zooming of graphs

Pulp benchmarking is a great tool for users to do first sanity checks on which pulps

could be used

Pulps can be chemical, mechanical, DIP or BCTMP, no limits to that!

Benefits Of Fiber Behavior Information

16

In this graph is shown how much does five typical hardwood market pulps differ. They are all refined equally much (100kWh/ton). The comparison is made to find the pulp which enables the highest tear strength and opacity at the same time. Would the changing of pulp, shown by the arrow, effect on the quality of the final product, if the half of the furnish mix is HW based? What would you think would happen to softwood hardwood ratio optimum in a mix?

Part 3: Furnish Mix Optimization

9.9.2014 17

Input Of End Quality Parameters

• It’s easy to enter all the needed quality

parameters into the software for the

end use requirements

• Optimization tools help to find the

most cost effective way to reach the

target quality in any properties

• The changed costs of raw materials

and energy influence and change the

optimum solution constantly

18

Creating the Furnish Mixture

19

Then you go to the real thing: Furnish mix

optimization

You usually have different types of machines and/or

grades in the database

Fillers and Chemicals Included

20

Here as an example of comparison between PCC and Kaolin. All other fiber mixes are the same!

Multivariable Optimization Button!

All quality parameters can be seen for the both mixtures in Table or Picture.

For optimization Min and Max accepted values can be entered

The Quality Comparisons

21

The Quality and Cost Optimization

In this case MIX #2 shows a significant 9,69 € / ton savings in raw materials

and energy!

22

Part 3: Board Optimization

9.9.2014 Juhani Lehtonen GloCell Oy 23

Creation of Board Layers

9.9.2014 Juhani Lehtonen GloCell Oy 24

Alternative mixes for all board layers can be created easily.

Board Optimization

• The board structure is created from furnish mixes

• In this case a 3-layer structure in presented

• Easy comparison• Grammages included

25

Alternative Board Recipes are Created

9.9.2014 Juhani Lehtonen GloCell Oy 26

Target here is to achieve the same bending stiffness with less raw material!

The Target Can Easily Be Met With This Approach

9.9.2014 Juhani Lehtonen GloCell Oy 27

Savings in raw material and energy are even 18,2 € per ton with the main

quality parameters remaining intact!

Part 4: Future Roadmap

9.9.2014 Copyright GloCell Oy 28

Future: Box Compression Modeling

• Fiber types

• Basis weight

• Bonding

• Fiber strength

• Orientation

• SCT (STFI) compression strength of the liners and medium

• Thickness of the board from the form of the medium (take up factor)

• Bending stiffness of the liners

Paper Board Box Functional use

ECT(Edgewise compression)

BCT(Box compression or

stacking strength)

Load demandSCT (STFI)Bending stiffness

• ECT of the board• Bending stiffness

of the board • Box dimensions

• Weight of single box?

• Printing properties?

• How high will it be stacked?

• What environmental conditions?

Box Compression Modeling Directly From Raw Materials

• Fiber types

• Basis weight

• Bonding

• Fiber strength

• Orientation

• SCT (STFI) compression strength of the liners and medium

• Thickness of the board from the form of the medium (take up factor)

• Bending stiffness of the liners

Paper Board Box Functional use

ECT(Edgewise compression)

BCT(Box compression or

stacking strength)

Load demandSCT (STFI)Bending stiffness

• ECT of the board• Bending stiffness

of the board • Box dimensions

• Weight of single box?

• How high will it be stacked?

• What environmental conditions?

You can run the board machine based on end use requirement optimum!

9.9.2014 Juhani Lehtonen GloCell Oy 31

Summary

Conclusion

• Principal component analysis is an efficient tool for analyzing the potential of mechanical and chemical pulps

• It can be used to explore the full design space for alternative furnish solutions

• When combined with economical evaluation it can serve as a valuable tool for altering the performance-to-cost ratio of any paper product

• GloCell approach for furnish optimization can thus serve as a strategic tool to ensure your competitiveness in the future

• SoftaCellTM – tool is used comprehensively today to optimize millions of tons of yearly production of paper and board with effective savings of tens of millions of euros per annum

33

Steering to use the best raw material combinations

available

Compare different options of raw materials easy and

fast

Cost efficient development and testing of new

products

Optimization of quality to customers

•Buy the right pulps

•Survey in which end products you can use same pulp grades.

•Channel right raw materials to right locations

•Find out technical potential in the end product

•Be able to see effects of material change fast on economical level

•Steering of R&D on higher business area level

•Point out the best and be able to forget the rest

•Be able solve customer problems

•Produce “quality good enough”

•Increase your pulp sales with SoftaCell™

SoftaCell™ can offer value for the whole corporation

Mill

level

Value Added By Softacell™