Energy and water Pinch study at the Parenco paper Mill

A Pinch study has been carried out at the Parenco Mill which makes 450,000 tpy of newsprint on two paper machines. Pulp is supplied by deinking and TMP lines. Both Energy and Water Pinch were applied to the entire mill, the overall objective being to reduce energy and water consumption and cost. The expected energy savings will be 60,000 tons of low pressure steam per year, a target for which the optimisation of heat recovery from the PM hood exhaust is necessary. The increase of process temperature of 5°C, probably contributes to: better runnability; production speed of PM1; and further energy saving in the dryer hood. The expected water savings will be 200,000 m 3 /year of ground water. A more detailed study is necessary to realise further water savings, because of certain process and product risks. Pinch analysis is also used to systematically identify changes to Base Case operating conditions, which could increase the scope for savings.