Energy costs are one of the main cost drivers in paper production. With prices rising sharply in recent months, savings opportunities are becoming increasingly important for papermakers in order to remain competitive. At the same time, low CO2 emissions are becoming the focus of the global paper industry.
Voith has set the goal of enabling CO2-neutral paper production by 2030 with the help of disruptive technologies and an optimised product portfolio. Thanks to in-depth know-how and a strong focus on innovation, all Voith products are ideally harmonized with each other to make paper production as resource-efficient as possible. The company’s Papermaking 4.0 portfolio offers optimisation opportunities in every area that can be quickly implemented by Voith experts and pay off for the paper producer after a short time.
“Our products cover the entire papermaking process and are leaders in sustainability and efficiency. Digital applications are an important part of our portfolio and can drastically reduce energy consumption,” says Peter Eisen, Vice President Digital Product Management, Voith Paper, citing OnEfficiency.BreakProtect as an example. The digital application helps to identify, understand and eliminate breakage causes – enabling increased production with the same energy consumption. Voith can already boast a total of more than 300 digital installations worldwide, most of which have paid for themselves in less than one year.
Automation solutions, such as the OnQ Profilmatic CD profile control, also achieve energy savings. With the Eco-Mode setting, excess spray water can be reduced on an OnQ ModulePro nozzle moisturiser, saving drying energy. The software upgrade can be quickly and easily installed remotely on the existing cross-profile control system by OnPerformance.Lab (OPL) experts.
For all other solutions from the Papermaking 4.0 portfolio, Voith experts provide support both in analysing current potential for improvement and in defining and implementing optimisation measures. In addition, the OPL experts can provide valuable information in the area of monitoring and auditing that can lead to energy savings.
“In addition to the continuous development of the existing portfolio, we are constantly working on new innovations to expand our leading digitization and automation portfolio,” adds Eisen. “Currently, for example, the OnView.Energy application – which uses dashboard and reporting functions from OnView.Reports to visualise the energy consumption of a paper mill in a user-friendly display – is in the final testing phase.”
OnView.Energy’s different views allow, among other things, the comparison of energy consumption in different time periods or with different paper grades. Particular savings potential can be found in the area of drying and air technology. Modern high dew point hoods, such as the EcoHood 65 in combination with the OnC.HoodBalance dew point and zero-line control, increase the heat recovery potential and enable a massive reduction in energy use. The application will be deployed for wide industrial use by the end of the year.
