Monitoramento e predição da geração de energia em uma indústria de celulose no Brasil

Abstract

Modern market bleached pulp mills generate large amounts of steam and electricity from burning black liquor and biomass. Black liquor is a byproduct of wood cooking during its transformation into cellulose. Biomass is generated by the separation of the bark from the wood logs and the separation of the wood chips with non-conforming particle size. The chemical recovery boiler, the biomass boiler, the double steam extraction and steam condensing turbo generators are the equipment that makes the cogeneration of electricity. With the rising price of electricity in Brazil, the project of new pulp mills have become increasingly energy efficient. Excess electric power generation provides important revenue in the financial balance of these plants. Variations in the process, operation and maintenance of these plants generate fluctuations in surplus energy volumes, which forces them to trade part in contracts and the remainder as monthly settlement of differences. The objective of this work was to implement a continuous monitoring of steam and energy consumption and a prediction model of the power generation for a market bleached pulp industry in Brazil. These tools provided better operational management and earlier predictability to enable better commercial contracts.