By Teemu Turunen and Jaana Kuorelahti, Metso's Paper and Fiber Technology
BRUSSELS,
Nov. 22, 2011
(RISI) -
Energy savings are not necessarily achieved merely by applying new technology. And efficient monitoring of energy efficiency can be affected by several factors. In many case, the users of the applications and equipment play the most important roles. Read Part I here and Read Part II here.
Monitoring the energy consumption for each operation shift divided the views of the respondents. Most of the respondents considered shift-specific monitoring worth promoting, but at the same time they were suspicious about the employees' attitude toward it. On the other hand, several respondents would be interested in monitoring the differences between operation shifts more closely, but their wishes regarding the monitoring methods varied slightly.
The alarms caused by the system divided the views of the respondents. Most of the respondents would see the alarms as a good additional feature in the system. It is important to thoroughly consider the alarm limit to ensure the real significance of the alarm and that it will lead to further actions. Some of the respondents consider the alarms as disadvantageous because if the feature is poorly implemented, it may lead to an excessive number of alarms.
The experiences described formed the basis for a method to implement the monitoring of energy efficiency on a new and already operating papermaking line. The main features of the method are divided into five stages, Fig. 4.
The first stage is to discover the current state of the target, that is, in which form energy data are currently received, who needs it and where it is utilized. The next stage entails the preparation of an implementation plan for monitoring energy efficiency to determine the development needs for measurement instrumentation, the technologies applied, quality of the data produced and the place for displaying it. The purpose is also to determine the training needs of the staff. In case of a new line, the training needs can be determined at a later stage. The third stage is the actual implementation stage where the measurement, data transfer, saving and display solutions are implemented in the target on the basis of a plan. The fourth stage is commissioning and user training. At the beginning of this stage, the operation of the implemented applications is verified and the required fine adjustments are made. Calibrating the measurements may also be an essential part of this stage. These procedures are followed by the organization of user training and preparation of guide materials suitable for the target line practices. The guide materials can be produced for example through a web portal or in the form of a traditional manual. After the training, ensuring the visibility of the applications must also be taken into account. One potential way is to place a separate energy display on the control room wall so that it is constantly available to the users of the process. The last stage of the method contains the monitoring of energy efficiency commissioned at the mill and possibly carried out by an external party. As for the target mill, one essential issue at this stage is motivating and monitoring the users of the process. One method to motivate the users is to include a separate energy efficiency section in the incentive system, which would motivate the users into finding new, more energy-efficient operating methods.
The development of the monitoring of energy efficiency requires actions from the target line and the supplier of the applications and the system. The entire issue must not be considered as a one-time project but as a process which is developed and refined over time.
Discussion
Implementing the energy efficiency monitoring system as part of a new line delivery project is easier than implementing a similar system for an already operating line. Additionally, the costs may soar if all the features available to the new line are implemented for the old one. This is why requirement mapping plays a significant role in finding an optimal scope and content for the implementation.
Another important stage is the implementation of the systems in practice. The applications must have an owner or main user who is responsible for their control, maintenance and content development. The features of the applications cannot be fully utilized without such a contact person. Training should also be organized for different user groups. In a large scale, the monitoring of energy efficiency must be useful and provide tools for the corporate, mill management, production management and user level. The monitoring tools can in the best case work in two directions between different user groups. They can be used to shift the upper level energy efficiency or environmental goals into practice and to produce useful information on the practical level for the upper levels in the organization, Fig. 5. The paper machine line operator sees the target values in practice and can adopt energy efficiency as part of his daily work. Correspondingly, the applications enable the production of process-specific data to be used as initial data in the environmental and energy efficiency reporting of the corporate, while at the same time depicting the development of the issues in this sector during the previous year. Additionally, they enable proper and transparent benchmarking of the different lines of the corporation in terms of energy efficiency. The applications may also facilitate the verification of energy efficiency investments, because currently the verification of energy savings is in many cases carried out through manual calculations.
In the development of the content of the applications, attention must be paid to facilitating and guiding the decision-making of the operator. The operator should be provided with unambiguous data on how to run the process in order to move to a better a direction in terms of energy efficiency. For this reason, even more energy-efficient controls should be included in the whole to automatically guide the process toward optimum energy efficiency by taking into account the boundary conditions set by the process and the end product.
One area for applying the applications even further could be to address energy efficiency in the staff incentive system. This has been utilized relatively little to date, partly due to the complexity of the issue.
This study evoked ideas of connecting maintenance as part of monitoring. This could offer an interesting topic for further study in this specific field. Another intriguing subject for additional research could be found in the online simulations of the process and their utilization in finding energy-efficient operating methods.
In practice, the current state of the monitoring of energy efficiency, the development needs and the future prospects can be divided, Fig 6. To promote energy efficiency, the mills require more time and financial resources, more comprehensive measurement instrumentation and energy-efficient solutions. Time resources could be improved by appointing full-time persons in charge of energy efficiency and financial resources by allocating investments to energy-efficient targets. As for the procurement of more comprehensive measurement instrumentation and solutions, it is essential that the mills have a clear view of their needs and the equipment suppliers can respond to those needs. It is also important that the solutions can be customized according to the users' requirements and contain versatile reporting and monitoring features. The target of the monitoring of energy efficiency in companies is to include monitoring as part of the daily work.
The importance of energy efficiency will be emphasized in the future as a result of, among other factors, intensifying price competition, which will increase the strategic significance of energy even further. Energy efficiency has become and will continue to be an increasingly important feature of processes and equipment. This will force the equipment and technology manufacturers to pay even closer attention to the monitoring of energy efficiency.
Teemu Turunen and Jaana Kuorelahti, Metso's Paper and Fiber Technology, teemu.p.turunen@metso.com
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