Optimised thermocompressor design and operation for paper drying applications

摘要

Thermocompressor sizing and operation are often misunderstood. As a result, incompatibility between the thermocompressor size and syphon design is a common problem in the paper industry. Typically, thermocompressors are oversized and operate at higher differential pressure than required. It is not unusual for thermocompressors to consume twice as much motive steam as is necessary. This results in energy waste, operational problems, and poor control. The first step in optimising thermocompressor performance is to correctly match the design of the thermocompressor to the syphons and the paper machine operating requirements. Recent advances in thermocompressor design, through the use of computational fluid dynamic modeling, have improved energy efficiency. In addition to the thermocompressor design, correct operation of the dryer drainage system is required to achieve continuous benefits in energy reduction. Supervisory control logic in the dryer section can be used to ensure that the thermocompressor and syphoning system is operated at the most efficient point. This paper discusses the latest developments in optimising thermocompressor design and its integration with syphons and dryer drainage systems technology to improve energy efficiency.