About 30-40 % of global primary energy consumption relates to the industrial production and to meet future demands a competitive power price has always been a distinctive trait for the energy intensive industry. Lately the energy cost has increased rapidly in many countries at the same time as the climate issues have been addressed as one of the major challenges for mankind. Therefore, our mission is to use the accumulated knowledge in refining technology and introduce the control concept LESS - Low Energy Strategic Systems to provide lower carbon footprint and better operation economy.

To extract information about the energy efficiency in refining processes we use latest modeling techniques which makes it possible to describe the forces between refining bars/grooves and fiber bundles distributed along the refining segment length. The force distribution is strongly dependent on the refining segment pattern and how the process is running. In LESS, the concept of “Fiber energy efficiency” is introduced to describe the defibration and fibrillation work along the refining zone radius. The main purpose is to distinguish between the energy distribution related to the thermodynamical work (steam generation) and the actual work on the fibers (i.e. the irreversible work related to the development of the fiber properties).

The refining process is complex and it is important to understand how the force distribution varies when changing the production and other process conditions. By relating the force distribution to other derived physical states in the refining zone, it is possible to get a clearer picture how the pulp and handsheet properties are affected at different operating conditions.

For further reading, please download "Fiber energy efficiency Part 2: Forces...".