MECHANICAL PULPING By HV. (JACK) GROPP he recovery of a portion of the energy required in the mechanical pulping process makes production of the stronger mechanical pulps from pressurized sys tems economically attractive (Figure 1). In a thermome- chanical pulp (TMP) mill, heat recovery can reduce the energy cost 35% to 40%. Much has been written con- cerning the recovery of energy from the mechanical pulping processes, while very little emphasis has been placed on how to utilize this recovered energy. 2,000 Ih/MWh RECOVERED, Approximately 65% of the energy required in the production of pressurized groundwood pulps (PW) and 75% of the energy required in refiner mechanical pulps (RM), which can be in ex- cess of 2,000 Ib of clean steam/MWh of refining energy, can be recovered. The heat recovery potential for me- chanical pulping processes is normally classified into two major categories: ‘s Low pressure (Figure 2) ‘High pressure (Figure 3) ‘The low-pressure systems are those in which the contaminated steam is emitted from the pulping process ata pressure less than 25 psig and is more suitable for heating liquids. The high-pressure systems are those in ‘which the contaminated steam is emitted from the pulp- ing process at a pressure greater than 25 psig, and while it too can be used for heating liquids, it is more often used for the generation of clean steam LOW-PRESSURE HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEMS. ‘The re- covery of heat energy from low-pressure systems is not now technology to the pulp and paper industry: the en- ergy contained in blow heat from the chemical pulping pprocoss has boon used to heat process water for many years. This technology has been refined and improved upon to suit the more uniform and continuously dis- charged heat streams characteristic of the mechanical ‘Mr. Gropp Is senior stoff engineer-pulling, Rust International, Birmingham, Ala. Efficient Use of Recovered Energy is a Key Mechanical Pulping Goal The most logical application can be determined from a computer simulation that includes heat balance data pulping processes. A few of the more obvious uses for this low-pressure steam include the following: ‘¢ Heat process water ‘¢ Heat grinder shower water Heat boiler feedwater makeup ‘¢ Heat glycol for building heat. Another possibility is to generate clean steam at ap- proximately 10 psig less than the pressure of the con- taminated steam. However, in more mills the demand for steam at less than 25 psig is normally not great ‘enough to utilize the amount of steam available from a ‘mechanical pulp mill. In many cases the pressure is boosted with mechanical or thermo compressors to a pressure suitable for uso in the low-pressure steam header, on the paper machine, or both. There is a system in Finland that utilizes the con- taminated steam generated in a mechanical pulp mill for heating water which, in turn, is used for residential building heat. The disadvantages of using the “waste” heat for building heat is that during the summer months it must be vented to the atmosphere. LOW-PRESSURE SYSTEM EXAMPLES. In some Pcw mills, the heat content of the steam generated at the grinders is combined with that generated at the rejects FIGURE 1: Specitic energy consumption vs treeness, southern pine TMP compared with PGW and SGW. XX — Souther Pine TMP @ — Souther Pine PGW. A — Souther Pine sawFIGURE 2: Hot water system. Treated sake up wate y ‘TMP stoam tom pressure cycione o Make up water ae sexoy ee easy wee to Out Lor a ee heer Ou: vera Ps ‘Make up water scrubber ‘eliminator 4 Fan } Venturi id = ee crm oa Ea] Felecia ns ct ra aoe meron! ' beset a el Reboiler fis ‘Steam to process Desupemeater ‘et siage compressor Condensate Bnd stage recycle pump compressorrefining system. These systems usually consist of multi- pass, two-or-more-stago heat exchangers. One stage is used to heat grinder shower water, and the other stage is used for heating glycol, which is used in the HVAC sys- tem for building heat during the winter months and for Paper machine pocket ventilation heat during the sum- mer months. Usually, the latency chest in a TMP mill is near the chip washing system. The atmospheric steam from it can be collected, satisfying normal chip washwater heating requirements, HIGH-PRESSURE HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEMS. There are several high-pressure heat recovery systems operat. ing in mechanical pulp mills today. They aro mostly in- tegrated with RMP mills, and practically all operate at diferent prossures. ‘An ideal situation for high-pressure heat recovery is an kM mill that purchases steam from a local stoam plant, In this case, the mill does not have to be con- cerned with the prospects of shutting the paper machine down and getting « boiler online or up to capacity each time the pulp mill steam generation is interrupted. Another good situation is that of a mochantcal pulp mill integrated with a chemical pulp mill having mult ple paper machines, where the tM steam ie a small por. tion of the total required and can be injected into the rill low-pressure steam header HIGH-PRESSURE SYSTEM EXAMPLES. At one south- ‘em newsprint mill there are several pressurized TMP ro- finer lines equipped with a shell and tube falling film heat recovery unit capable of producing 160,000 Ib/hr of 50-psig clean steam for use on the paper machines. It also has a ditect-contact condenser for collecting the low-pressure steam from the rejects refining system and. the hot condensate from the heat recovery unit. The low-pressure steam is condensed and cooled along with the condensate to between 185° and 190°F and used for heating machine shower water as well as boiler feedwa- ter makeup, In this situation the amount of clean steam produced is more than one machine can use. Thereforo, the steam generated at the Tar mill is piped to the low-pressure header, thus supplying three paper machines simulta- neously to ensure that should one machine shut down, the other two would consume all of the steam generated. In tum, the likelihood of having to vent steam to the atmosphere is minimized. ‘The concept of the clean TWP steam injection system, is such that tho steam header pressure to the machine from the steam plant is maintained at approximately 5 psig less than the clean steam pressure generated at the ‘TMP heat recovery system. Therefore, all of the clean steam produced is consumed and the remaining steam required for the machines is admitted through the steam. header pressure control valve to maintain the prossure setpoint. At another southern mill, a thermo compressor is used as a pressure-reducing valve between the low- and high-pressure headers, which simply takes any amount of steam produced at the heat recovery end “backs down” the high-pressure steam required to control pres- sure in the low-pressure header, FIBER ENTRAINMENT. Certain characteristics are common to both the high- and low-pressure systems. The one of major importance is that of fiber carryover in the contaminated steam, There will always be upset conditions when fiber is entrained in the contaminated steam, and to minimize lost time, the system must be designed to handle these upsets. The magnitude of the fiber entrainment problem for refiner pulping is much sroater than that of pressure grinding because of the higher pulping consistencies. The best solution for the more difficult refiner pulping system is a pulp-vapor separator between the refiners and the heat recovery uunit, with the diluted discharge returning to one of the ‘unscreened pulp chests (Figure 2) Most low-pressure heat recovery units are continu- ously flushed falling film heat exchangers with hot con- densate (160°-+F) going to the woodyard for h retumed to the process as dilution water. Most of the high-pressure systems are falling film ro- covery units with a contact separator. The hot conden- sate (300°+F) can go through @ noncontact heat ex- changer and be used to heat refiner plate dilution wator before being returned to an unscreened stock chest. SUMMARY. Before selecting a heat recovery con- cept for a mechanical pulp mill, an overall mill com. puter simulation, including a heat balance, must be obtained. From this heat balance, the most logical appli- cation for the use of the energy recovered can bo deter- ‘mined. When producing clean steam for use in the mill steam system, the steam produced must be of the same quality as that generated by the boilers to prevent con- tamination of the condensate system and, in turn, the boiler steam system. Provisions for chemical treatment ‘must be included for the clean steam generation system. As the operating pressure of a given pulping system increases, so does the complexity of the system, which, in turn, increases the operating difficulty. This often precipitates @ corresponding reduction in overall pulp uniformity. ‘Therefore, even with refiner mechanical pulping, if the results desired from a heat recovery sys- tem can be obtained at a lower pressure, one should not complicate the system by designing it to operate at a pressure higher than necessary, . REFERENCES. 1LWE Lahner, Heat Recovery, Volume 16 (1087) 2.M. Tappio, “PGW Process Hoat Recovery,” Tampella Engineer- ing 1982). 3.B. Beckstrem, TMP Hat Recovery, a System Approach, A. H. Lundberg Associates. fechanical Pulping, p 164 PULP & PAPER APRIL 1991