Displaying items by tag: metso

ABTCP, the Brazilian Pulp and Paper Technical Association, has awarded Metso the title of the best automation company in Brazil for 2012, following a vote of the association members, who include Metso’s customers. 

ABTCP has awarded Metso the title of best automation company in Brazil for 2012 for a seventh consecutive time. The annual awards of the ABTCP were given in the festive ceremony held on the 10th October 2012 in São Paulo, Brazil. Metso was selected following a vote of the association members, who include Metso’s customers. 

Marcelo Motti, VP Sales and Services for South America, said: “This award is very important to us as it shows that our customers see us for the 7th year running to be the best automation company in Brazil when it comes to delivering and optimizing automation solutions.” 

Mikko Keto, President Automation Services Business Line, said: “Brazil is a very important global producer of pulp and as a result this is a very competitive and innovative market. To be recognized as the leader in Automation is not only a great honor but also is testament to our world class process knowledge and the quality of our Brazilian team.”

Metso also received another award in the category of equipment suppliers. Additionally, Metso got shortlisted for the Sector Standouts Awards 2012.

ABTCP, the Brazilian Pulp and Paper Technical Association, founded in 1967 and headquartered in São Paulo, supports the technological development of the pulp and paper sector. The Association promotes the interaction between scientists and plants and sponsors international events and partnerships. In addition to pulp and paper technologies, the annual program offered by ABTCP also covers the environment, maintenance, automation and engineering, recycling, packaging, work hygiene and safety, management of people and organizational results.

New power plant turbines in Belovskaya and Tom-Usinskaya will receive ultramodern automation with highest possible system availability and usability.

Metso and the Russian company Power Machines signed a contract on delivering Metso DNA automation systems for steam turbines in two modernized power stations in the industrial region of Belovskaya and Tom-Usinskaya in Middle West Siberia. The delivery for the newly built turbines will be made for the Kuzbassenergo, a member of the Siberian Generating Company (SGK), as the end user.
The Metso DNA Steam Turbine Controller includes all steam turbine control and steam turbine governor functions required for safe and reliable steam turbine operation. A robust system has a proven track record with components that are utilized in power plant applications worldwide, implementing a redundancy concept that covers all system levels.

Metso provides reliable technical expertise

”Metso is a logical choice for Power Machines as a business partner ,” says Alexei Ignatyev, Head of steam turbines control systems department, Power Machines, St. Petersburg. “We have a long experience of cooperation with Metso: we appreciate very much the comprehensive approach of Metso to solving process automation issues in energy production. Another advantage is the reliability of Metso’s technical expertise and the wide selection of products in the field of automation. Our choice is the Metso DNA automation system with opportunities for accelerated processes.”

In the Belovskaya power station, two new turbines of the currently six condensation turbines will be equipped with the Metso DNA system. The capacity of each turbine to is 220 MW in the power production plant with a total volume of 1200 MW.

The Tom-Usinskaya power station will receive Metso DNA automation systems for two of its altogether nine thermal turbines producing close to 1300 MW. The power station is one of the largest in southern West Siberia. The area is known for its heavy industry, among others, coal, iron ore and cast iron production.
The delivery will take place in the autumn of 2012 and in early 2013. 

Power Machines (in Russian: Silovye Mashiny) is a Russian energy systems machine-building company headquartered in Moscow. Power Machines manufactures steam turbines, including turbines for nuclear power plants. In addition to Russia, Power Machines has supplied equipment to almost 60 countries with a significant market in Asia. Power Machines is a long-standing partner of Metso in power automation.

Kuzbassenergo is a Russian joint-stock company that is specialized in the distribution of electricity and energy. Its headquarters are located in the city of Kemerovo in the Kemerovo region in Southwest Siberia. The company supplies reliable energy and regular heat and energy for consumers. In 2011, the amount of the electricity generated by Kuzbassenergo was 22.6 billion kWh.

Metso will convert the combustion technology at the Haapaniemi 2 power plant of Kuopion Energia in Kuopio, Finland, from pulverized peat-fired combustion to fluidized bed technology. Metso’s delivery scope covers all the modifications in the boiler required by fluidized bed technology, such as modifications in the pressure vessels, new air, ash and fuel systems inside the boiler house as well as new superheaters and economiser. The rebuild will be carried out during the summer and early autumn of 2013. The value of the order will not be disclosed.

The target of the project is to decrease the power plant’s emissions since the Industrial Emissions Directive will tighten the emission requirements for power boilers by the beginning of 2016. After the conversion, the plant will use practically no heavy fuel oil at all, and also resulting in lower fuel costs. In the future, the boiler will run on peat and wood with a mixing ratio that can be varied flexibly.

“This conversion will make us less dependent on energy peat that has suffered from delivery problems. It will also enable us to maintain the competitiveness of district heating in the future. The project makes it possible to significantly decrease CO₂ emissions and is thus in line with the Climate Policy of the City of Kuopio,” says Esa Lindholm, Managing Director at Kuopion Energia.

The order is included in Metso’s Pulp, Paper and Power third quarter 2012 orders received.

Kuopion Energia Oy produces electricity and district heat, sells electricity and handles the group’s administration services. In 2011, the company’s net sales amounted to EUR 68.3 million and it employed 113 people.

High efficiency of the production and operational reliability are the key performance indicators for an innovative plant that will be equipped with Metso’s valve and field instrument solutions. 

Metso has received an order to supply valves and smart instrumentation for the innovative GoBiGas project in the Rya harbor, Gothenburg, Sweden. GoBiGas is a major project for Göteborg Energi AB that is starting a biomass gasification plant. The plant is currently being built by Metso Power and is the first of its kind in the world. The plant converts biomass into renewable biomethane gas, using the existing natural gas grid for distribution.

Metso has been selected to supply the state-of-the-art control and on-off valves together with intelligent and safety valve controllers for both the Gasification and the Methanation part of the GoBiGas project, phase one, to help the plant maximize process reliability at all times. The Metso offer was selected in a procedure following the Public Procurement Act, fulfilling all the technical and environmental requirements accordingly. 

Reliable valve performance in demanding conditions is the key to ensuring safety, flow control accuracy, and reliability together with reduced process variability, which are key challenges in the gasification process. With the intelligent valve controllers featuring performance diagnostics and the safety valve controllers providing extensive safety valve testing and improved diagnostics data, predictive maintenance is possible, thus resulting in improved plant safety and minimizing the operational and maintenance costs of the valves. 

Metso’s field solution delivery consists of a total of around 320 valves, including Finetrol eccentric rotary plug control valve, Butterfly valves, Neles RotaryGlobe valves, Segment and Ball valves, 145 intelligent controllers Neles ND9100 and about 60 new generation safety valve controllers Neles ValvGuardTM VG9000.

GoBiGas focuses on producing biomethane through gasification of biofuels and forest residues. The gasification system, together with the subsequent methanation and gas up-grading system, will produce high-calorific gas, biomethane, for distribution in the existing gas grid. This is the first plant of that kind ever and gas of this quality has never been produced continuously before from gasification.

The GoBiGas gasification plant will be built in two phases, the first being scheduled to be operational late 2013, and the second phase to be accomplished after the first phase has been evaluated.

Unique offering for the renewable energy industry

Metso has a unique and full range offering for control and on-off valves, actuators, intelligent controllers and field instruments for the renewable fuels industry. In Finland, there are examples of major refinery applications of Neles control and on-off valves. Jamesbury and Neles products are ideally suited to bioethanol production, which has led to their use in over 60 such plants, for instance in the USA.

Metso is the leading valve solutions and services provider whose Flow Control solutions include control valves, automated on/off and emergency shut-down valves, as well as smart positioners and condition monitoring. Metso’s world-leading brands include Neles, Jamesbury and Mapag.

Metso Corporation’s four biggest registered shareholders on October 1, 2012 i.e Solidium Oy, Cevian Capital II Master Fund L.P., Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company have named the following persons as their representatives in Metso's Nomination Board: 

Kari Järvinen, Managing Director (Solidium Oy); 
Lars Förberg, Managing Partner (Cevian Capital); 
Harri Sailas, President and CEO (Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company); and
Matti Vuoria, President and CEO (Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company).

Jukka Viinanen, Chairman of Metso's Board of Directors will serve as an expert member in the Nomination Board.

Metso's Nomination Board, established by the Annual General Meeting, prepares proposals on the members of the Board of Directors and their remuneration for the next Annual General Meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for March 28, 2013.

Metso's Annual General Meeting decided on March 29, 2012 to establish a Nomination Board to prepare proposals on members of the Board of Directors and their remuneration for the next Annual General Meeting which is planned to be held on March 28, 2013. The representatives of the four largest shareholders registered in Metso’s shareholder register as of October 1, 2012 are elected to the Nomination Board along with the Chairman of the Board of Directors Jukka Viinanen as an expert member.

According to the shareholders register, Metso Corporation's four largest shareholders on October 1, 2012 were: 

- Solidium Oy (16,695,287 shares and votes or 11.10% of share capital and votes), 
- Cevian Capital II Master Fund L.P. (10,193,060 shares and votes or 6,78% of share capital and votes), 
- Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company (6,036,943 shares and votes or 4,02% of share capital and votes),
- Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company (3,908,465 shares and votes or 2,60% of share capital and votes).

Metso Corporation

Metso Corporation issues an EUR 400 million 7-year Eurobond under the company’s EMTN (Euro Medium Term Note) program. The notes carry a fixed coupon of 2.75 percent. The issue was substantially oversubscribed with around EUR 1.5 billion of orders, and the bond was allocated to about 170 investors. An application will be made for a listing of the notes on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, where the EMTN program is currently listed.

The new funding will extend Metso’s maturity profile and the funds will be used primarily for general corporate purposes. In addition to the new bond, Metso has issued private placements totaling EUR 100 million during 2012. 

Citigroup, Danske Bank, Nordea Markets, and SEB acted as Joint Bookrunners for the transaction.

Historically, the standard of living has followed the consumption of fossil fuels. Concern over the environment, global warming, and the predicted shortages in fuel reserves are gradually shifting the focus to energy saving, developing new processes and the search for new fuels. Metso acknowledged the challenge in its annual report in 2009: “The greenhouse effect necessitates significant changes in energy use and production. Technology development is one of the key solutions to these challenges.”

Pls feel free to ask for more information. We also appreciate your feedback in all automation related issues.

Automation is often overlooked, but it is a great potential performance booster when the process has to be pushed to the limit. In addition, the more challenging fuels and mixtures of them, modern combustion technology, and the continuous monitoring of the environmental impacts of the new, state-of-the-art plants call for advanced measurement and control applications.

R&D shows the way to energy savings

Fuel chemistry together with burning process know-how is the specialty of the Process Chemistry Center at Åbo Akademi University, where Professor Mikko Hupa is in charge of a team of over 50 international scientists. Cooperation with the university complements Metso’s knowledge and experience. For example, the rapid development of the furnace flow modeling technique known as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has become a crucial tool in the design of new furnaces. It is partly due to advanced CDF that Metso has been able to develop the huge, recovery boilers, with black liquor capacity of over 7000 tds/d, which fully comply with the tightest environmental regulations. Metso has also made use of the groundbreaking detailed descriptions of the black liquor droplet combustion process in its development of boiler operation control systems and advanced automation solutions. Accurate control is essential when pushing the performance of these complex units to the limit. 

Professor Mikko Hupa, Process Chemistry Center at Åbo Akademi University

The Metso Recovery Boiler Optimizer has been used successfully for recovery boiler burning and sootblowing controls in several applications. It carefully controls the black liquor flow to the furnace, maintains a stable spraying pattern and adjusts the liquor droplet size according to quality variations. Air distribution controls guarantee the supply of the necessary combustion air for the burning process. Maintaining the optimum combustion conditions in the boiler furnace practically eliminates SO2 and TRS emissions. 

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The Intelligent sootblowing controls enhance the availability of the recovery boiler by cleaning the heat transfer surfaces only when and where needed. This results in sootblowing steam savings and increased thermal efficiency. Typical energy savings include an approximate 5% increase in burning capacity, a 5% increase in steam production, and extending the uninterrupted operating period beyond one year.

“It is impossible to maintain the optimum combustion conditions in the furnace continuously using manual controls. Also, systems based on what is called adaptive control will often face difficulties in the practical solutions of the process industry,” states Professor Hupa.

Renewable fuels as profitable business

The search for new potential fuels is ongoing, and it is becoming more and more important to understand the whole value chain from feedstock to end product. Biomass like agro residue, wood waste, and other waste materials require fuel handling and preprocessing before the proper conversion process can be applied.

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Maintaining a high and stable combustion temperature in the furnace simultaneously with a moderate boiler equipment corrosion/erosion rate is challenging because of the extensive quality variation of some bio fuels. In addition, recycled wood often contains variable amounts of zinc and lead, which lead to superheater corrosion in the boiler.

Fluidized bed boilers like CYMIC and HYBEXprovide a state-of-the-art and environmentally suitable solution for the demanding new bio fuels. As with the recovery boilers, the operation of these plants benefits from sophisticated automation. The Combustion Management Solution calculates the heat value of the fuel mixture used continuously. The fuel power computed from the fuel heat value and fuel flow is used as the basis for combustion air calculation and fuel feed control. The fuel flow disturbance control compensates variations in fuel quality and flow by modulating the fuel feed to the furnace. The air-to-fuel ratio control allows for the correct air fuel mixture for the complete oxidization of the fuel at the desired excess oxygen level. At the same time, steam production is monitored and the necessary adjustments are carried out in the feed water flow and fuel feed. The furnace temperature is maintained between acceptable limits to prevent melting of the fluidized bed and the formation of thermal NOx. SO2 emissions can be controlled by means of the limestone feed to the furnace and by the combustion temperature control.

The plant’s thermal efficiency is continuously monitored and reported to the operators for immediate actions. The performance follow-up is beneficial especially during process disturbances and in load change situations. Several installations of the Combustion Management Solution have proven that a stable steaming rate from the boiler can be achieved regardless of quality variations in the feedstock.

Professor Hupa reflects: “Deeper understanding and a reliable prediction of the behavior of several fuels burned together is one of the future development targets.”

Environmental solutions manage plant performance

Power plants have to comply with environmental requirements in order to receive an operating permit. Running old inefficient equipment means plants face the threat of closure. Deviations have to be reported to the authorities and the necessary actions have to be initiated immediately. The consequences can be fatal if disturbances remain unnoticed. 

The emission monitoring and reporting solutions are built on the Metso DNA Information system platform to comply with the LCP Directive and the plant’s environmental permit. The process operators have online access to the emission measurements and the condition of the automated measurement systems. Alarm reporting complements the process information for fast and efficient management in disturbance situations. In addition, the accumulated information can be used for operation improvement and the development of new processes. 

Large Combustion Plants (LCP) emissions can be effectively managed by dedicated monitoring application

The system compares the accumulated averages of the measured data with the previous two-day averages and the permitted limits. The forecasts for the coming two days are calculated based on the present operating parameters and the collected process data. The analyzer display monitors the current status, last maintenance, and calibration of the equipment so that the quality assurance of AMS according to EN 14181- standard can be realized.

Daily, monthly, and annual reports can be used for self-assessment of the mill’s emissions and in reports to the authorities. A summary display collects the real-time and cumulative emission measurements and their averages in an easy-to-use information window. The data and related forecasts are compared with the operational permits. The summary display provides an effective tool for evaluating the environmental performance of the mill because it contains complementary information of the process and equipment status. This knowledge can also be utilized in communications with the authorities.

Total emission reporting with corresponding trends complies with regulations applied on LCP

Metso DNA Eco Diary is an efficient environmental data analysis and knowledge distribution tool for all relevant users. It contains the process measurements and the event-based manual entries regarding the disturbance, production loss, and shift operation. The operators’ descriptions in the diary of the time and place of the disturbances build up experience. They also list the actions taken and the consequences of the incident. Recommendations on how the situation could be prevented in the future complement the analysis.

Kari Kerkelä, automation manager at UPM Kaukas Mill, summarizes the benefits that can be achieved with the environmental automation solutions: “With Metso’s applications, we can prove that we comply with the requirements of the new environmental permit. We are continuously aware of the plant emissions and can react to potential problems in time.”

Sustainability is achievable

Our welfare continues to be based on the use of fossil fuels. The coal consumption in 2010 was 10% higher than the average during the 2000s, and the total electricity consumption increased by 7.6% during 2010. Yet Professor Hupa is optimistic about the future: “It is possible to get rid of fossil fuels in the long run. Sustainable energy is achievable, but lots of innovative engineering supported by genuine scientific research is needed to reach the goal.”

Pls feel free to ask for more information. We also appreciate your feedback in all automation related issues

More information:

Jukka Puhakka, Manager, Pulp & Paper Applications 
jukka.puhakka(at)metso.com

Metso will supply Chenming Jilin, part of Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Ltd., with the relocation and rebuild of a paper machine for the company’s new mill site in Jilin Province, China. The value of the order will not be disclosed. A typical market value of this type of a relocation and rebuild project ranges from EUR 10 to 20 million.

“The main target of the project is to increase production by improving the efficiency of the paper making line and by increasing the drying capacity of the paper machine,” says Metso’s Sales Manager Jukka Vuorela.

A paper machine of Chenming Jilin will be relocated within Jilin City from the current mill site to the company’s new mill site. Metso will supervise the dismantling and packing of the paper machine line and supervise the installation and start-up of the relocated equipment. Metso’s delivery will also include a rebuild of the relocated PM 12. The start-up of the relocated and rebuilt machine is scheduled for the second half of 2013.

The order is included in Metso’s Pulp, Paper and Power third quarter 2012 orders received.

Technical information

The paper machine to be relocated is the 6.95-m-wide (wire) PM 12 paper machine. The modernization will include forming and drying section modifications and a press section rebuild with a new SymBelt shoe press. Originally the PM 12 produces coated wood-containing LWC (light weight coated) paper grades and after the rebuild the target is to also produce other new paper grades.

Chenming Jilin is part of Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Limited, one of the biggest paper producers in China. In 2010, the company’s paper production capacity was over 4 million tonnes, turnover over EUR 2 billion and the number of employees approx. 17,000.

Mondi partners with Tieto and Metso in largest single one time advance process control project in the pulp and paper industry.

Mondi has partnered with Tieto and Metso to to increase the efficiency and profitability of the pulp and paper production at Mondi’s Syktyvkar Mill in Russia. Tieto and Metso provide the mill advanced control and optimization systems for the fiber lines. By improving the overall operation of the fiber line Mondi will improve the yield, chemical consumption and production capacity of the three lines, leading to significant reduction in operating costs and improving productivity.

The advance control and optimization system for Syktyvkar includes the following process areas: three continuous digesters, three brownstock washing lines, two oxygen delignification lines, and two bleach plants. The Tieto part, Tieto Integrated Paper Solution TIPS, applications include budgeting, order entry, production, process and quality management integrated into mill-level reporting. 

The flexible optimization options from Metso for each application are Continuous digester, Washing optimizer, Oxygen delignification optimizer and Bleaching optimizer. Coordinating these various applications maximizes the overall benefit for Mondi for fiber line optimization. These applications join the almost four hundred Pulping and Recovery Advance Control Applications Metso has installed globally.

The Mondi Group is an integrated packaging and business paper manufacturer with production operations in 28 countries and around 23,400 employees. Tieto is the leading IT service company in Northern Europe providing IT and product engineering services with about 18,000 employees.