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TAPPI News, Paper360º September/October 2019
TAPPI News, Paper360º September/October 2019
Magazine articles
Leveraging mill-wide big data sets for process and qualityimprovement in paperboard production, TAPPI Journal December 2024
Authors: Jianzhong Fu and Peter W. Hart | TAPPI J. 15(5): 309(2016) - ABSTRACT: The MWV mill in Covington, VA, USA, experienced a long term trend of increasing episodes of paper indents that resulted in significant quantities of internal rejects and production downtime. When traditional troubleshooting techniques failed to resolve the problem, big data analysis techniques were employed to help deter-mine root causes of this negative and increasingly frequent situation. Nearly 6000 operating variables were selected for a deep dive, multi-year analysis after reviewing mill-wide process logs and 60000+ PI tags (data points) collected from one of the major data historian systems at the MWV Covington mill. Nine billion data points were collected from November 2011 to August 2014. Strategies and methods were developed to format, clean, classify, and sort the various data sets to compensate for process lag time and to align timestamps, as well as to rank potential causes or indicators. GE Intelligent Platforms software was employed to develop decision trees for root cause analysis. Insights and possible correlations that were previously invisible or ignored were obtained across the mill, from pulp-ing, bleaching, and chemical recovery to the papermaking process. Several findings led the mill to revise selected process targets and to reconsider a step change in the drying process. These changes have exhibited significant impacts on the mill’s product quality, cost, and market performance. Mill-wide communications of the identified results helped transform the findings into executable actions. Several projects were initiated.
Journal articles
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Review of coating cracking and barrier integrity on paperboard substrates, TAPPI JournalDecember 2024
Authors: Joel C. Panek and Peter W. Hart | TAPPI J. 21(11): 589(2022) - ABSTRACT: Barrier packaging formats are major growth areas for the pulp and paper industry. It is technically challenging to maintain barrier properties during converting and end-use applications. Improved manufacturing capabilities and coating formulation knowledge will help maintain barrier integrity and enable growth of barrier products in challenging applications. These improvements will accelerate product development and commercialization, and allow faster response to product performance issues such as cracking. The literature on coating cracking provides knowledge mostly on the effects of coating formulations and to a lesser extent on substrate effects. Despite a large number of publications dedicated to coating failures, the approach to improve coating cracking remains empirical, and the transferability between studies and to real life applications has not been well established. Model development that successfully predicts commercial performance is in its infancy. However, some of these simplified models do a fairly good job predicting experimental data. The current work reviews the state of understanding as regards coating and barrier cracking and highlights the need for more research on cracking and barrier integrity.
Journal articles
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Lignin-based resins for kraft paper applications, TAPPI Journal November 2019
ABSTRACT: We investigated miscanthus (MS) and willow (W) lignin-furfural based resins as potential reinforce-ment agents on softwood and hardwood kraft paper. These resins might be sustainable alternatives to the commercial phenolformaldehyde (PF) resins. Phenol is a petrochemical product and formaldehyde has been classified as a carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The lignin used in this study was derived from hot water extraction (160ºC, 2 h) of MS and W biomass, and may be considered sulfur-free. These biorefinery lignins were characterized for their chemical composition and inherent properties via wet chemistry and instrumental techniques. The resin blends (MS-resin and W-resin) were characterized for their molecular weight, thermal behavior, and mechanical properties. Mechanical properties were measured by the resin’s ability to reinforce softwood and hard-wood kraft papers. The effect of adding hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA), a curing agent, to the resin was also examined. Mixtures of PF and lignin-based resins were investigated to further explore ways to reduce use of non-renewables, phenol, and carcinogenic formaldehyde. The results show that lignin-based resins have the potential to replace PF resins in kraft paper applications. For softwood paper, the highest strength was achieved using W-resin, without HMTA (2.5 times greater than PF with HMTA). For hardwood paper, MS-resin with HMTA gave the highest strength (2.3 times higher than PF with HMTA). The lignin-based resins, without HMTA, also yielded mechanical properties comparable to PF with HMTA.
Journal articles
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Modeling and parameter optimization of the papermaking processes by using regression tree model and full factorial design, TAPPI Journal February 2021
ABSTRACT: One of the major challenges in the pulp and paper industry is taking advantage of the large amount of data generated through its processes in order to develop models for optimization purposes, mainly in the papermaking, where the current practice for solving optimization problems is the error-proofing method. First, the multiple linear regression technique is applied to find the variables that affect the output pressure controlling the gap of the paper sheet between the rod sizer and spooner sections, which is the main cause of paper breaks. As a measure to determine the predictive capacity of the adjusted model, the coefficient of determination (R2) and s values for the output pressure were considered, while the variance inflation factor was used to identify and eliminate the collinearity problem. Considering the same amount of data available by using machine learning, the regression tree was the best model based on the root mean square error (RSME) and R2. To find the optimal operating conditions using the regression tree model as source of output pressure measurement, a full factorial design was developed. Using an alpha level of 5%, findings show that linear regression and the regression tree model found only four independent variables as significant; thus, the regression tree model demonstrated a clear advantage over the linear regression model alone by improving operating conditions and demonstrating less variability in output pressure. Furthermore, in the present work, it was demonstrated that the adjusted models with good predictive capacity can be used to design noninvasive experiments and obtain.
Journal articles
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COVID-19 Has Created New Opportunities for Tissue and Towel, Paper360º January/February 2021
COVID-19 Has Created New Opportunities for Tissue and Towel, Paper360º January/February 2021
Journal articles
Magazine articles
Smart and Resource-Efficient: The DNA of the Paper Industry, Paper360º July/August 2021
Smart and Resource-Efficient: The DNA of the Paper Industry, Paper360º July/August 2021
Journal articles
Magazine articles
TAPPIConLive! New Technology Showcase Previews, Paper360º July/August 2021
TAPPIConLive! New Technology Showcase Previews, Paper360º July/August 2021
Journal articles
Magazine articles
QualiFlex QRun: Two Case Studies, Paper360º September/October 2020
QualiFlex QRun: Two Case Studies, Paper360º September/October 2020
Journal articles
Magazine articles
TAPPI Journal Summaries, Paper360º September/October 2020
TAPPI Journal Summaries, Paper360º September/October 2020