The recycling process in paper production is complex. Fluctuations in fiber quality and the degree of contamination of the recovered paper bales have a direct influence on production output. At the same time, resource efficiency is more important today than ever before. However, with the current state of the art, it is hardly possible to determine the specific causes of losses and optimize them directly. Yield is usually only measured on a weekly or monthly basis – by the time paper manufacturers receive the information, the losses have already occurred. Furthermore, it is very difficult to estimate whether losses in individual stock preparation areas have increased or decreased compared to the last analysis. To address these issues, the leading full-line supplier Voith has developed OnView.MassBalance.
The innovative digital tool displays losses in stock preparation in real time to further increase the sustainability and efficiency of paper production. At a glance, the operator can locate the specific areas with optimization potential on the screen. For this purpose, a Sankey diagram maps each feed, accepts and rejects at each process step. As soon as a critical value is reached, OnView.MassBalance reports this to avoid high losses. In this way, standardized processes can be established that can be quickly and easily performed by operators across different shifts. Suitable countermeasures can be, for example, checking the pressure drop or the feed consistency of the last screening stage.