Pulp and Paper Mills

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Gain continuous control over your pulp and paper manufacturing process.

The pulp and paper industry is one of the largest industrial consumers of water, requiring 17,000 gallons per ton of paper. Aside from wood fibers, water is the most important raw material in the pulp or paper mill. Simply put, pulp and paper manufacturing is impossible without water at every step of the production process—in specific tasks from pulping and bleaching to slurry dilution and fabric showers, in steam and power production for thermal and mechanical processes, as well as general operation uses such as materials transport and equipment cleaning.

Hach ® offers comprehensive water analysis solutions to paper mills, including manufacturers of corrugated paper, corrugated cardboard, tissue mills, kraft mills, and non-woven manufacturers of products such as baby diapers, disinfection wipes and more. Despite the broad range of paper product applications, the entire pulp and paper industry shares two main goals when it comes to water use: conserve fresh water by reusing as much process water as possible, and treat wastewater to comply with regulations and protect local resources. To accomplish this, having reliable tools and data is key.

From laboratory analysis to process solutions, Hach’s accurate, easy-to-maintain instrumentation, comprehensive test kits and high-quality prepared reagents are based on nearly a century of innovation and a desire to provide the simplest way to results pulp and paper companies can trust.

Our products, application support and local service can help your pulp and paper mill to:

  • Maintain quality by ensuring your output meets product specifications
  • Maximize uptime of equipment and production
  • Maintain regulatory compliance with legal limit values
  • Optimize resources by minimizing product loss and maximizing pulp yield
  • Protect your investment via process efficiency and prolonged plant life

By partnering with Hach in process monitoring and laboratory verification, you’ll assure maximum uptime through preventative protection, risk mitigation, and superior service.


Water Supply Conditioning

Because more than 90% of water used in the paper making process is sourced from the local environment, incoming water quality, including organic content, chemistry, dissolved oxygen and flow, varies with the weather and the seasons. Confident measurement and management of fresh water enables efficient, cost-effective production of high quality pulp and paper, whereas poor or unknown water quality creates costly consequences. Real-time analysis starting at raw water intake enables pulp and paper mills to:

  • Optimize biocide/disinfectant dosage
  • Detect changes to incoming water quality and take preventive action (e.g. the addition of chlorine to minimize bacterial and slime growth)
  • Monitor plant efficiency and production performance
  • Guard against in-plant corrosion and in-plant scale
  • Check potential of non-ionic inorganics to cause in-plant deposits
  • Assure effective filtration

Parameters Relevant to Water Supply Conditioning

  • cog icon flask iconATP
  • cog icon flask iconColor
  • cog icon flask iconFree chlorine, total chlorine
  • cog icon flask iconHardness
  • cog icon flask iconIron
  • cog icon flask iconManganese
  • cog icon flask iconpH value
  • cog icon flask iconSilica
  • cog icon flask iconTotal Organic Carbon (TOC)
  • cog icon flask iconTurbidity and Total Suspended Solids (TSS)

How to Measure:

Pulp_Paper-Mill_Paper_Factory_Steam_Night_480x374.jpg
cog icon

Process solutions include online sensors that provide round-the-clock support for critical operational and process decision making.

flask icon

Laboratory solutions include simple, reliable and accurate tests that support quality and compliance decision making.

Steam & Power

Because of the energy consumed to heat, pump and circulate water, and because of the key machinery at risk of scale and corrosion, careful analytics at this stage is a high-value priority. Additionally, because water is demineralized, treated and reused throughout the papermill, changes to parameters during steam generation have costly repercussions: boiler feed water must be purified to minimize corrosion, while treated steam condensate can be reused in the steam system. Continuous monitoring enables your operation to make informed process decisions and manage costs by:

  • Monitoring oxygen scavengers and controlling oxygen scavenger dosing to avoid corrosion as well as overdosing
  • Controlling the addition of phosphate to reduce corrosion and deposits
  • Avoiding damage to turbines and tubes caused by precipitates
  • Detecting efficiency loss in ion exchangers or membrane systems used for pre-treatment

Parameters Relevant to Water Supply Conditioning

  • cog icon flask iconCationic Conductivity
  • cog icon flask iconDegassed Cationic Conductivity
  • cog icon flask iconHydrazine
  • cog icon flask iconLaser Turbidity / Iron Transport
  • cog icon flask iconOxygen
  • cog icon flask iconpH
  • cog icon flask iconPhosphate
  • cog icon flask iconSilica
  • cog icon Sodium
  • cog icon flask iconSpecific Conductivity
  • cog icon flask iconTotal Organic Carbon (TOC)

How to Measure:

Pulp_Paper-Mill_Paper_Plant_Smokestack_480x319.jpg
cog icon

Process solutions include online sensors that provide round-the-clock support for critical operational and process decision making.

flask icon

Laboratory solutions include simple, reliable and accurate tests that support quality and compliance decision making.

Paper Machine Wet End Operations Monitoring

Measuring at the approach system and at the whitewater loops of the paper machine helps ensure optimum operation to achieve the specifications of the paper pulp and paper grade produced, as well as recuperation of raw stock/energy from the saveall. Approach system and whitewater loops quality analysis enables:

  • Monitoring for optimal chemical reactions at the wet end and formation of the sheet
  • Controlling coagulant and polymer dosage
  • Online calculation of the first pass retention
  • Optimization of the saveall operation for water, heat, chemicals, filler, and fiber recovery
  • Early detection of calcium and magnesium that shorten the life of costly equipment
  • Fast microbiology analysis to monitor biocide program efficiency

Parameters Relevant to Paper Machine Wet End Operations Monitoring

  • cog icon flask iconATP
  • cog icon flask iconFree chlorine, total chlorine
  • cog icon flask iconORP
  • cog icon flask iconpH value
  • cog icon flask iconSolids
  • cog icon Starch
  • cog icon Sulfate
  • cog icon flask iconTotal Hardness (TH)
  • cog icon flask iconTotal Organic Carbon (TOC)

How to Measure:

Pulp_Paper-Mill_Wet-End_Paper-Machine_480x354.jpg
cog icon

Process solutions include online sensors that provide round-the-clock support for critical operational and process decision making.

flask icon

Laboratory solutions include simple, reliable and accurate tests that support quality and compliance decision making.

Primary & Secondary Wastewater Treatment

Because 90% of the water used in a paper mill is returned to its source, meticulous water treatment before discharge is essential. Assure pulp and paper effluent complies with regulations by monitoring and optimizing primary and secondary wastewater treatment. Save energy and chemicals with real-time adjustments based on accurate data. Hach instrumentation and solutions enable:

  • Optimization of primary/secondary clarification
  • Optimization of flocculation and sludge dehydration process
  • Control of activated sludge retention time for foam and filamenteous protection
  • Dosage control and optimization of nitrogen and phosphorus
  • Monitoring of the biomass “health” with ATP measurement
  • Real-time monitoring of effluent regulated parameters
  • Wastewater plant data management for analysis and automatic reporting

Parameters Relevant to Water Supply Conditioning

  • cog icon flask iconAbsorbance UV
  • cog icon flask iconAmmonia
  • cog icon flask iconATP
  • cog icon flask iconBiochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
  • cog icon Flow
  • cog icon flask iconNitrate
  • cog icon flask iconORP
  • cog icon flask iconOxygen
  • cog icon flask iconpH value
  • cog icon flask iconPhosphorus
  • cog icon Sludge Level
  • cog icon flask iconTemperature
  • cog icon flask iconTotal Organic Carbon (TOC)
  • cog icon flask iconTurbidity and Total Suspended Solids (TSS)

How to Measure:

Pulp_Paper-Mill_Wastewater_Treatment_Tank_480x353.jpg
cog icon

Process solutions include online sensors that provide round-the-clock support for critical operational and process decision making.

flask icon

Laboratory solutions include simple, reliable and accurate tests that support quality and compliance decision making.

 

Explore topic: Product Loss in the Pulp and Paper Industry

 

Customers are intrigued when they learn Hach products can provide a map of product loss over time using just two measurements. Explore the topic, read the whitepaper and try the virtual calculator.

 

Learn More >

 

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