Transforming pulp and paper with automation and digitalization

By Arvin Ramjee, Business Development Manager, Process Industries (Sub Saharan Africa), ABB

The pulp and paper industry in South Africa is undergoing a significant transformation from traditional manual processes to embracing automation technologies. Industrial automation systems have evolved over the years, integrating software to measure key metrics that contribute significantly to the pulp and paper manufacturing industry.

Digital technologies are seamlessly integrated into traditional automation systems moving the pulp and paper industry towards autonomous operations. Automation in pulp and paper mills aims to improve various production stages, from raw material preparation to final product creation. Utilising automation technologies ensures precision and consistency throughout these processes.

We have seen a shift in the paper industry whereby there has been reduced demand for newsprint and graphic paper. However, this has been replaced by demand for renewable packaging and tissue. There has also been a rise in demand for kraft paper due to downstream use as a solution to address sustainability challenges.

The level of automation utilized in the pulp and paper industry is quite mature compared to other key industries. Therefore, the next level is exploring digitalization solutions to augment the existing automation products and solutions to extract more value by improving manufacturing efficiency.

Paper manufacturing is one of the most complex industrial processes that exist today.  Ensuring visibility of product properties is crucial to minimize rejects and improve both repeatability and runnability.

By continuously making counteractive changes to dynamic process movements and disturbances, quality control systems (QCS) achieve reduced variability and swift responses to setpoint changes, avoiding production losses, lowering emissions and improving product consistency.

Rather than simply reducing variability, modern QCS enable automatic controls to optimise production processes and energy consumption, reducing waste and costs – all while ensuring that the final product meets both internal and external standards.

The pulp and paper industry in South Africa is actively looking to transition to renewable energy sources to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

We have seen strategic investments being made towards integrating renewable energy sources for existing manufacturing processes with a key focus on energy and water, chemical, and carbon management.

Achieving these goals requires innovative technology that will increase efficiency within the process while reducing wastage. Automation systems provide enhanced control over energy usage by optimising equipment performance and adjusting processes in response to real-time energy demand.

As a global technology provider with many decades of experience in quality control and automation, ABB continues to pioneer its pulp and paper products and solutions to be the catalyst of change and address sustainability without compromising process quality and performance.

ABB offers a comprehensive and integrated automation portfolio of products and solutions to support the pulp and paper industry throughout the entire pulp and paper manufacturing process. These include power distribution and electrification, paper machine drives, distributed control systems (DCS), paper machine QCS, manufacturing execution systems (MES) and ABB Ability™ Collaborative Operations to leverage the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and deliver digital solutions to customers.

Paper mills that use ABB products and solutions can reduce rejects by keeping the product properties within a target range throughout the papermaking process. This is accomplished through the ABB Ability™ QMS, which provides measurement and control to reduce variability and therefore production waste. When paired with ABB Ability™ Expert Optimizer for Pulp, operators can further optimise process efficiency and raw material consumption to make on-spec products, economically and efficiently.

With time, adaptive APC (Advanced Process Control) together with MPC (Model Predictive Control) simultaneously adjusts many variables to achieve the perfect desired output and ideal target range at the wet end of the machine. Staying within this range keeps costs in terms of energy, fibres and in this process even water and chemicals as low as possible. Refining is a key area where APC achieves savings by reducing energy and fibre costs, also resulting in improved end paper sheet properties while obtaining low raw material usage.

Latest advances include ABB’s tailored MES for pulp and paper, a system that connects and automates processes while providing visibility from shopfloor to enterprise. The idea here is to move one’s operations from conventional connectivity towards fully autonomous operations which can be recognised as smart manufacturing. ABB’s process automation portfolio includes updated QCS products to achieve higher resolution for various critical measurements that have direct impact on product quality.

ABB Ability™ EMS (Energy Management Solution) is an integrated solution incorporating forecasting and optimisation to address the various process demands. It maximises sustainability performance and energy cost-savings by an iterative process of auditing, monitoring, forecasting and optimising energy consumption and supply for the entire manufacturing facility. EMS is helping process industries and manufacturing organisations make data-driven decisions about environmental, financial, and operational cost/benefit trade-offs while working toward achieving carbon neutrality.

Where the pulp and paper industry in South Africa was once facing the challenge of limited availability of expert resources, ABB leverages on the digitally connected world to alleviate this challenge with its ABB Ability™ Collaborative Operations solution to provide customers access to a global resource pool of subject matter experts who can support operations remotely 24/7.

To address the shortage of expertise, ABB has introduced Visual Remote Support using augmented reality. Having this solution in place opens our customers to a global pool of engineering resources that not only can assist customers on an emergency basis but also assists in commissioning critical projects remotely.

In terms of artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalisation, ABB Ability™ Genix combines industrial analytics and AI in an enterprise-grade digital platform and suite. Genix unlocks the value of contextualised data by means of IIoT to improve industrial productivity and operational excellence.

Industrial AI and analytics, combined with IIoT, brings together AI algorithms, machine learning models and advanced analytics tools to extract actionable insights from massive amounts of industrial data to optimise production and manufacturing processes.

ABB’s end-to-end solutions for pulp and paper manufacturing supports the entire value chain – from woodyard to shipment and from mill to enterprise. Having a comprehensive and integrated portfolio of products and solutions together with deep industry knowledge that supports the entire pulp and paper process.

ABB is a global technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. By connecting its engineering and digitalization expertise, ABB helps industries run at high performance, while becoming more efficient, productive and sustainable so they outperform. At ABB, we call this ‘Engineered to Outrun’. The company has over 140 years of history and more than 105,000 employees worldwide. ABB’s shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ABBN) and Nasdaq Stockholm (ABB). www.abb.com

ABB’s Process Automation business automates, electrifies and digitalizes industrial operations that address a wide range of essential needs – from supplying energy, water and materials, to producing goods and transporting them to market. With its ~20,000 employees, leading technology and service expertise, ABB Process Automation helps process, hybrid and maritime industries outrun – leaner and cleaner. go.abb/processautomation  

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