Top 5 Reasons Paper Mills Buy Filtration and Fiber Recovery Equipment
When seeking filtration or fiber recovery equipment, there are often different reasons for making the purchase based on the process needs of a mill. The equipment purchase needs to add value and savings to the mill, and the mill engineer or manager must be able to quantify and document the dollar values for project justification. Here are the top five reasons paper mills are purchasing filtration and fiber recovery equipment from Kadant.
- Fiber savings ($/ton) Is reusable good, long fiber leaving the mill? The most common locations this occurs in the mill are wastewater, white water overflowing from tanks, and sludge going to the landfill. Capturing the lost fiber and returning it to the mill process leads to significant savings
- Heat savings (energy) Fresh water that enters the mill must be heated for use. If hot water is discharged from the mill, energy is being sent to waste. Many times steam is added to the wire pit, and water recovery projects can reduce the steam consumption and energy used to heat fresh water.
- Landfill avoidance (costs). Mills pay to have sludge taken away to landfill. If waste can be reduced by removing the good fiber, less volume/weight goes to landfill, more paper is left on the reel (fiber recovery), and the mill realizes greater profits.
- Shower spray nozzles get plugged. When spray nozzles are not properly maintained, it leads to additional labor costs, off-spec products, reduced machine speed, and shortened felt life. Sometimes this is difficult to quantify in dollar terms, but it does cost the mill money.
- Cost of water and treatment. Water is not free, especially for mills that buy from and discharge to a municipality. The municipality water cost can easily exceed $3.00/1,000 gallons. For river or well water less than $1.00/1,000 gallons is typical.
Kadant uses a simple tool to help determine the potential water and energy savings at your location. The tool is a scorecard that allows for a quick analysis to determine if the energy and water conservation is excellent or has room for improvement. The completed scorecard provides a basis for developing solutions to help you save energy and water. A simple question is asked when determining the need for fiber recovery: “Are you losing good fiber from the mill?” If the answer is yes, the next question is: “How much and from where?” The answers to these questions lead to a detailed process discussion and recommended solutions. Ask your Kadant representative for more details.
