Know your fiber

As fiber characteristics directly impact the final paper quality, it’s crucial for papermakers to have a deeper understanding of their raw materials. For Stora Enso, this is possible with the Single Point Morphology analyzer, SPM-5550.

The Single Point Morphology analyzer (SPM-5550) is an essential building block of many solutions in the areas of pulping, graphic paper, packaging and tissue. Developed by BTG, a Voith company, the online morphology analyzer continuously measures pulp quality at a single point. The fully automatic system covers integrated sampling, dilution and measurement all in one unit. The resulting data lake is then used to correlate operational parameters along the production line. Crucially, these insights feed into keeping automated processes within tight boundaries and ensuring the final quality is on target, which is key for transitioning to the autonomous mill.

Typically, the SPM pulp quality results are updated in under five minutes, whereas conventional systems can require anything between 15 and 60 minutes. Any variations in quality are therefore identified more rapidly. This matters at Stora Enso’s Skoghall Mill in western Sweden, where two SPM-5550 analyzers are installed in the chemi-thermomechanical pulp (CTMP) production line, as Ann Lundqvist, Section Manager, Fiber & CTMP, at Stora Enso, explains. “The high frequency measurement of fiber quality data will be used to achieve a further improved process control and optimization, and, ultimately, to support Stora Enso’s ambition to remain the world-leading producer of renewable packaging solutions.” Magnus Konradsson, Production Engineer, CTMP, at Stora Enso agrees, adding, “We are very happy with the availability and low need for maintenance as well as the performance of the analyzers.”

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Know Your Fiber