Paper Excellence (Resolute) Is one of the largest producers of the pulp used to make recycled office paper in North America” Annual Production Capacity: 171,000 metric tons Product: Recycled Bleached Kraft Pulp Large Scale Fire Oct 2022 - March 2023 production resumed.
How was scaling affecting the operations?
“In the past we used to have significant scaling issues with the disc thickener segments. The segments would quickly build up with silicate scales internally and externally making them unusable.”
How was the scale being managed?
“Several attempts were made and cleaning via power washing and chemical boilouts with little to no improvement. As a result, we were steadily having to purchase costly new segments.
Operational Challenges
The required shutdown time and the sheer number of man-hours required to make any significant impact on scale removal proved to be fruitless even with chemical boilouts, high-pressure jetting and the use of hand tools such as chisels and drills.
Challenges
Significant scaling issues with the disc thickener segments
Several attempts were made and cleaning via power washing and chemical boil outs with little to no improvement
Segment Replacement costs Shut down time and Lost Production
Objectives
Evaluate FlowScience Electromagnetic De-scaling Devices for Resolute Paper Mill's disc thickener to minimize costly shutdowns and segment replacements. Assess the impact on operational stability, equipment longevity, and financial savings. Provide a concise analysis of how FlowScience technology can effectively prevent expensive maintenance, ensuring enhanced operational reliability and reduced costs for Resolute Paper Mill.
Solution
FlowScience Electromagnetic De-scaling Devices provide a zero-shutdown, non-intrusive, chemical-free solution for Resolute Paper Mill's disc thickener. This 24/7 technology reduces manual cleanouts, cuts labor needs, and minimizes costly shutdowns. By preventing scaling issues, FlowScience enhances equipment longevity and operational reliability, optimizing disc thickener maintenance for Resolute Paper Mill. With low energy consumption and near zero O&M; FlowScience is a top tier solution for fouling control and process uptime.
Conclusions
“After the installment of the FlowScience scale control technology we began to see immediate improvements. We eliminated the program of removing sectors and performing chemical cleanings and power washing. Now after running the unit for several years, we now just annually purchase twenty segments, enough for one row, to just replace segments as needed. Being a ten-row disc thickener, this equates to getting 10 years of life from the segments now. We have estimated that FlowScience has saved our mill upwards of $50,000 annually in equipment replacement costs of the segments/sectors. Also, I would like to add that our disc feed thickener had run the full total of 14 rows prior to installation of FlowScience. Now that the efficiency of the disc feed thickener has increased we now only have to run 10 rows. FlowScience has proven to be extremely effective for O&M with the reduction and prevention of hard scaling. FlowScience has proven to be a very effective solution to mitigate even the hardest of scaling (silicate based). I feel confident recommending it to any of our other mills." - Kevin Burd
Update January 2025
The FlowScience Systems continue to control scaling 1 year later and Paper Excellence is looking at all of their other facilities to be equipped with FlowScience.
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