CASE STUDY: Pulp & Paper Use AI to Control Steam Processes

Challenge:

A pulp & paper plant in Quebec has a very extensive boiler and steam system. They use steam for a variety of processes, everything from adding it to the pulp itself as well as using rolls that are internally heated with steam. Maintaining a uniform temperature across the surface of the roll is essential for making quality product. Since steam is a gas, it fills the entire volume of the roll and evenly distributes heat as it condenses.

Steam accounts for 43% of facility energy usage. They have an entire team of engineers dedicated to increasing efficiency.

Solution:

Recovery of pre-treatment steam during pulping and steam for drying is paramount for reusing energy. In fact it can result in approx 14% energy savings. But with steam accounting for 43% of the facilities total energy usage, there is a potential for additional significant cost savings by detecting and repairing steam trap failures. They installed Pulse Steam Trap Monitors on all steam traps, connected to a series of gateways to connect all wireless IoT monitors to a cloud server. They now receive email alerts of all failures instantly and can repair traps with very little lost energy or variations in uniformity of temperatures. In the future they hope to use the AI inherent in the Pulse Solution to do additional analytics. They hope to use predictive modelling to see how different levels of steam pressure affect the cost and efficiency of the system.

“We are always looking for innovations in order to stay competitive. AI is the next level for us”

Benefits:

• Significant energy cost savings were recognized through the instant availability of failure alerts

• Product outputs were now more consistent and of higher quality overall

• Future AI plans are in place to try to optimize the steam system efficiency

• They were able to go from 3 shifts of workers to 2 as actual manufacturing only happens 16 hours a day, the third shift were only babysitting the infrastructure

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CASE STUDY: Polymer Company Immediate ROI

Challenge:

A large polymer manufacturing company used steam for their critical assets such as heated hydraulic moulding presses. It was essential that the steam was kept at a very high pressure to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness of their machinery. They also have recently been focused on reducing energy costs and emissions rates.

They diligently get inspections annually which left them very vulnerable to failures between audits but they didn’t really know how much the failures cost in lost energy and

production efficiency.

3 failures would have cost them over $39k per year. They also save approx 300 tonnes of CO2

Solution:

Polymer company started with a very minimal investment. They decided on a pilot installation of only 25 monitors. They installed monitors next to high pressure steam traps servicing presses, hot boxes, autoclave and the boiler room. They only required one gateway so installation was complete within 1 day. LTE connection ensured no bandwidth loss to their WIFI network and secure failure alerts instantly to their maintenance staff.

“We are so relieved to have a failsafe system in place. It was the easiest installation we have ever done”

Benefits:

• An open failure was initially detected during installation on a float type steam trap at 120 psi. Annual losses from this leak would have cost approx $4,700

• During the third month, another open failure was detected on a thermodynamic trap at 140 psi. Annual losses would have cost approx $3,500.

• A large leak was found in month 6, losses from this type of trap would cost approx $31,000 per year.

• The calculated ROI of the pilot was about 667% in a matter of only 6 months.

• Due to the success of the pilot they decided to scale deployment across their plant to all steam traps

• They want to ensure they don’t have any production downtime moving forward.

• They will be able to use their energy savings toward theircarbon footprint reduction mandates.

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CASE STUDY: Forest Products Emissions Reduction Focus

Challenge:

A forest products company has a unique situation in their steam environment. They have a very self contained environment where they use offcuts to power the boiler that produces their steam. The steam in turn provides heat, powers their compressor and even helps in the wood drying process. They need to report their CO2 emissions to the government and had very strict

guidelines to adhere to.

Since 1990 Canada’s forest sector has reduced its GHG emissions by close to 70%. Ensuring failures are caught immediately is essential to ongoing improvements.

Solution:

Pulse Steam Trap Monitors were installed on all steam traps. While installing it was found that one of the steam traps was not working. It was swapped out and monitor installed on new trap however data was still irregular and they quickly ascertained that new trap was not functioning properly and had to be replaced. New trap was installed and worked properly.

They realized that if the monitor had not caught the failure it would have gone undetected for up to 12 months, the usual timeline for their next steam trap survey. Being in such a remote location makes it difficult to get inspections done more frequently. They calculated that emissions saved from that one trap would have significantly impacted their government guidelines making them potentially subject to fines and a poor rating.

"There is no future without addressing climate change and forests are a key component of that"

Benefits:

• Forestry suppliers operate in a heavily regulated market and emissions ratings can even be a competitive disadvantage.

• They have suffered a lot of bad press over the last few years so have vowed to decarbonize their entire manufacturing and supply chain by 2030 - installing these monitors will help them achieve that goal

• They can now schedule annual audits and rest assured that failures will not go undetected between inspections

• They can focus on other carbon reductions in order to deliver on their promises

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