Digging Deeper, Part II

Last month we talked about a new, in-depth look at our mission statement. We received some great feedback on that. Thanks to those that commented.

For the next few months, we want to offer some in-depth thought on the projects we are about to undertake. This month we are tackling Process Energy Optimization.

Do some of us think we have been doing this for at least fifty years and may ask, what is left to be done? A Light Green Machine Institute Board Member offers this, pertaining to tissue machines:

“Yankee Hood Balancing – there is a fine line between optimum set-up and air balance for the most efficient utilization of energy but what most often gets overlooked is the safety for operators that need to tend to the hood system. Usually, the most energy efficient set-up often causes spillage of excessively elevated temperature air out of the front and back of the hood. Secondly with high heat spillage, there is a much higher risk of fires in and round the hood system due to dust/lint build up as most tissue machines are quite dusty environments. Tissue producers usually bring in the OEM or Yankee Hood consultants to perform hood balance studies and corrections on an annual basis only to leave the sites and within days/weeks the operations groups return the hood dampers back to where they usually run the machines for safety/risk reasons.

“Basic Care – now this will sound small, but I (this same board member) would bet has the highest potential for energy reduction over most new and improved capex improvements, I’ll list a few:

• Process system balances – we often install auto valves on PID control loops to control our processes and now the new normal is to install VFD’s but often you see the auto valves left in the control loop? Even if not, go out in the field and you find pinched manual valves with VFD or even across the line starter non VFD motors running at full load?
• Steam traps – again a no brainer but most facilities only look at them on an annual basis where they find most bypassing. This is an easy check with systems running and most maintenance can happen on monthly outages.
• Water use and reclamation – paper mills in general are notorious for consuming excessive water. I would say in general; US paper mills consume more than sixty cubic meters of water per ton of paper produced while our European counterparts are on an average of less than 25 cubic meters per ton. Lots of opportunity here! Walk in any US paper mill and you will find water hoses just lying on the floor under a leaking pump shaft seal or refiner, heck, just pick most any piece of equipment!
• Air leaks – the same as the steam traps above. One thing you see a lot of is air used for cooling or dust buildup prevention. Air is often used for motive force in actuators, positioners, cylinders, etc. With today’s innovations, there are many more energy efficient methods to perform the stone age practices of using compressed air. Just think of the energy and capital deployed to produce compressed air, the pneumatic plumbing infrastructure necessary to deploy the air and then the often-low efficient devices providing the motion needed. This area has vast opportunities.”

Of course, we can recognize many of these issues in other grades as well, but this gives you an idea of the items about which we are thinking.

Going to other grades, it has already been demonstrated that going to steel dryer cans from cast iron will reduce the length of a linerboard machine by at least two bays for the same tonnage. Think of not having to condition the air in two whole bays because they don’t exist!

Here is what we want you, the reader, to think about. We want you to consider stepping up to the challenge of committee membership in the Light Green Machine Institute. This challenge is not only articulating the issues as we have done above (and this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more issues), but helping form real solutions compelling for all to implement. For instance, we all know there are steam trap leaks as mentioned above. What is the documented solution, in the form of protocols, best practices, and/or standards, that one can be assured will be implemented without question to solve this waste? How do we express the arguments and formulate solutions that will pass all temporary holds on maintenance spending, value engineering and other such actions to produce sustainable, long-term results regardless of the temporary economizing program of the day?

As an industry, we may compete against one another, but in the bigger world, we compete against using our products versus other materials or elimination. This starts with efficiently doing everything we do as aided by proven protocols, practices and standards produced by LGMI. And this can only be produced and accepted by the industry when experienced minds collectively work together within the LGMI framework.

Are you ready for the challenge?

So, again, we would like your responses to this month’s newsletter.

Let us know if you are interested in working on the Process Energy Optimization Team with a simple response to this newsletter, something like, “Yes, I am excited about Process Energy Optimization.”



Thank you very much for your participation.  

Your comments are important for launching the mission and vision statements and thus endorsing our path forward.

Thank you very much for your participation.  

Of special note...

In a few months, we will be moving this column to the Light Green Machine Institute website. There is not much there right now, but you might as well get signed up and start thinking about moving over there. It is at www.lightgreenmachine.institute.